Claire Natola

To the editor:

I have read the letters pertaining to the Meredith budget process with great interest, but finally must speak out to correct the record.

In his letter of Feb. 2, Selectman Peter Miller writes of the Community Center's front desk position: "Parks and Rec director Vint Choiniere requested that this position be made full time with benefits. In the selectmen's budget, this remains part time without benefits." Selectman Miller's statement is at best misleading, at worst dishonest.

Letter writer Melissa Sullivan gets it right in the same edition of the Daily Sun: "By cutting back the hours of the front desk receptionist to 29 hours, the Selectmen have avoided having to pay the salary of 37 hours and a small benefit package." For Selectman Miller to claim that this position "remains" part-time in the new budget is disingenuous. Not only has that position always been a 37-hour position (hardly "part-time"), but the person currently filling it also works 3 hours a week at the town library. I am shocked (and as a citizen of our fine town, embarrassed) to see that this 40-hour town employee works without a benefit package.

I voted for Selectman Miller, but if his twisting of the facts to suit his political agenda is indicative of how he conducts our town's business, I won't be voting for him again. Citizens of Meredith should ask themselves: How many other untruths have been published in his lengthy letters to the editor?

Claire Natola

Meredith