2009-10-01 / Letters

Article is ill-advised or vindictive

I am writing about Article 3 at next week's special town meeting.

This warrant article is at best ill-advised and at worst a vindictive attack on some current members of the Board of Selectmen. What the attendees at a special town meeting will be asked to do is to change the town charter. This proposed change is being made without any study.

A citizen came before the BOS in August asking for a charter review committee. Before the BOS even had a chance to discuss the matter the same citizen had a petition signed by 156 people to add it to the next available town meeting.

As one member of the BOS I am willing in the future to have a charter review committee, but this is not the time. The BOS and the town should be focused on finding the best candidate as our next town manager. It would be difficult to recruit the best person out there while we are under charter review.

What this article asks for is to change only one part of the charter, which is looking at the charter piecemeal instead of looking at it in its entirety. The charter was studied around 10 years ago and there were very few changes being recommended at that time, and recall was not one of them. There was a study around 20 years ago with the same results, no recall. There was a recall provision before town meeting in the '90s and it was rejected. So why now does it come back before us? Good question.

The person leading the charge on this matter was on the BOS for 12 years. Any time during those 12 years he could have asked for a charter review committee to look into the charter and a recall provision. Why is it now, after he is off of the BOS, does he feel we need to have it before us at a special town meeting? I think I know the answer as do many of you.

The very best course of action right now is to defeat this ill-advised or vindictive attack and allow the town government to move on. The BOS needs to move on from the past to capture the very best "next" town manager that is out there. The manager needs to be allowed to move on to the next exciting chapter in his career and life. The town employees need to move on from the uncertainty and turmoil. The citizens need to move on and look forward to the opportunity that change brings with it.

Every three years the citizens have a chance to recall their elected BOS and School Committee. It is called a general election where each elected official needs to run on and stand by their record. And unless there is a legal matter that affects an elected official's ability to serve they should be allowed to serve out their term. On each of the elected boards within Holden there are many members, so the impact that an individual member of the board can have is affected by his/her ability to convince others to vote their way.

So I encourage people to attend town meeting on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at Wachusett Regional High School and vote down this ill-advised, vindictive warrant article.

David J White, Selectman


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