Vinnie Baiocchetti has a huge conflict of interest to deal with

To The Daily Sun,

To the Townspeople of Gilmanton,

First, I want to say thank you to the Gilmanton School and the 8th grade Leadership Team for putting on a Candidate’s Night Forum every year. The ability to ask candidates their thoughts and ideas around the position they are running for is usually an effective way in which to gauge your voting decision come the following Tuesday. This year proved no different.

As an involved citizen in the Town, I have a grave concern over one candidate in particular: Vincent Baiocchetti. His answers tonight showed he has no conceptual idea of the use of the town administrator and the functions of that office. His belief that the town administrator has no supervisory role over department heads of any town department is a recipe for disaster. If you look at job descriptions and the roles and responsibilities of town administrators all over the state, you will see that there is a true professional responsibility of the town administrator in every function and cost center of the town, of which every department head needs to be held accountable: financial, personnel, human resources, facility management, inventory, procurement… and the list goes on. The lack of understanding of the compliance requirements to state and federal entities that a town is responsible for and which runs through the town administrator's office is not what we need in Gilmanton.

Then, Mr. Baiocchetti is in a position in which he is an expert witness for the police chief's lawsuit AGAINST the Town. When asked questions about this situation, Mr. Baiocchetti assured the crowd that there is no conflict of interest, but he couldn't answer many questions because of his role in that litigation. If he can't answer questions in a public forum, how is he going to openly be a leader of the town when he can't comment on decisions that are going to need to be made as the litigation continues? Self admittedly, Mr. Baiocchetti will have to go AGAINST the Town when it goes to litigation… but there is no "conflict of interest?" How are you to look out for the best interest of the whole community when you are fighting for one?

Furthermore, is it fair to the two sitting selectmen if they lose the ability to make decisions when only two people are able to perform their duties of selectmen? With no tie-breaker, does the town sit in a standstill for the foreseeable future? While I agree that there are more pressing items that can be worked on for the future betterment of the town, you still can't avoid the present situation.

As a town, we can’t afford to vote for Vinnie Baiocchetti.

Robert Carpenter

Gilmanton