Please, no reading (letters) aloud

MOULTONBORO – The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor of no longer reading or summarizing submitted citizen correspondence, irking some residents. Often, at the end of a selectmen’s meeting, letters submitted to the board by residents, organizations, and other agencies are summarized by the chair, and summarized in the meeting minutes. During the May 15 meeting, Moultonboro resident Paul Punturieri submitted a letter to the selectmen, specifying that it be read in its entirety, not summarized. Punturieri had written the letter to selectmen, asking that they reconsider allowing certain public employees to have the day off to attend Town Meeting on Saturday. He began the letter with the statement, “This is a brief letter and I would ask that it be read, not summarized.” Chair Karel Crawford summarized Punturieri’s statements, and the selectmen spoke in favor of allowing town employees from the library and the waste management facility to attend, in order to emphasize the importance of Town Meeting. After this, Punturieri and Moultonboro resident Rick Heath wrote letters to area newspapers, criticizing the act of summarizing submitted

correspondence. “At the May15 selectmen's meeting they (selectmen) refused to read into the minutes a letter to them that was asked to be "read not summarized" in their usual manner,” wrote Heath. “It was then barely summarized, after some rather condescending comments by the chair. It is a sad note when a taxpayer cannot have a note read into the minutes of a selectmen's meeting because it is in disagreement with them.”

The board’s decision last week means that all letters from citizens will be accepted, but not read aloud in either entirety or summary. If a citizen wants the letter to become part of the minutes, the letter must be read at the meeting by the citizen, or by their representative. TownAdministrator Carter Terenzini said that selectmen were concerned about “being taken to task” for how the letters were read or summarized. Terenzini said that letters will still be put in public record, alongside the meeting minutes. “If we keep doing it, we may put the wrong inflection on it, or the wrong summarization,” said Selectman Ed Charest. “It also takes a lot of time to read them all aloud, and Hope (Kokas) has to transcribe the entire letter into the minutes.” Charest said that selectmen were concerned that one summary might be considered to have been read more favorably than another.  Punturieri expressed disappointment in the selectmen’s decision, calling it a less transparent method of operating. He said that people might not know what is being asked when selectmen summarize it. “To not read every letter equally seems prejudicial,” said Punturieri. “There can be many missed points when summaries are made. In my opinion, they’re only reading letters they want to read”

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