I would not make a time commitment I could not keep

To The Daily Sun,

I would like to comment on Sanbornton Selectmen Jim Dick’s 1/21 letter regarding the changes to the weekly Selectmen’s public meeting.

First, contrary to what Jim said, my letter never stated that Selectmen were receiving a “boost in pay”. This letter title was written by the newspaper and was, unfortunately, misleading.

Jim also states in his letter that the change from a weekly to bi-weekly public meeting was a result of an administrative decision. As I have stated in the past, I could not find evidence of an actual discussion, motion or vote regarding making this change in any of the meeting minutes. When was this proposed change discussed? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to discuss important decisions like the availability of our Selectmen with residents prior to making this decision?

It was also stated that “biweekly model has been used historically during the summer months with great success”. As Jim has not yet been a Selectmen during the summer months, I am wondering how he can make this quantification!

I am rather surprised and disheartened that, since Jim has been on the Select Board, our town no longer seems to require as much attention as it has in the past, at least over the past 34 years that I have lived here. Jim invites me to “walk a mile in our shoes”, however Jim is relatively new to our town and very new to the Select Board, so I wonder if he is actually expressing the sentiments of the other Select Board members (who are far more familiar with who I am), or has his relative newness merely left him unaware that I have served several terms on the town Planning and Zoning boards. Thus, I am familiar with both the amount of time and effort board work required to do an effective job as well as the efforts required of all volunteer and elected officials and I am grateful for both.

Now it has been a while, however, I don’t remember ever having the necessity to reveal the amount of hours I was required to put in to attend or prepare for meetings or for dealing with challenging requests, irritated residents or even the occasional lawsuit. I do know that had I not had the time to serve on those boards, I would not have attempted to change policies to suit my own personal limitations, but rather, would have simply not made the commitment to time I did not have. In other words, I wouldn’t have bitten off more than I could chew!

Bill Whalen

Sanbornton