August 2009 Archives
We originally published the following article in January 2009 that discussed the differences between a Town Manager and a Town Administrator. We bring it up again as there are times when we wonder: do we have a Town Administrator that functions as a Town Manager?
It seems that as weeks go by the BoS rely more and more on the ‘Town Administrator’ to provide them with direction and even policy. He serves at the pleasure and direction of the BoS, but if the role is evolving to a Town Manager the law requires that the legislative body (you and I) approve that at town meeting. A “defacto” Town Manager avoids that requirement and that is just not right.
Just last week at the Board of Selectmen meeting, Betsey Patten offered her concern that the Master Plan Implementation Committee should be under the Land Use Office and not the Board of Selectmen. During a healthy discussion (for once!) amongst the selectmen, with some actual disagreement, our Town Administrator interrupted with a ‘If I may” and proceeded with a diatribe that misconstrued the facts. This clearly swayed some members of the select board to go forward with a vote, rather than to table it and seek further meetings with the Planning Board in order to make a much better and informed decision.
Think about this for a moment: the Master Plan was developed over many months with many volunteers and is a 10 year dynamic document. The Board of Selectmen (three of them anyway) took the Town Administrator’s comments at face value and rushed this decision through.
We see nothing wrong and everything right with the Board asking for more information, especially when it comes to the Master Plan.
Who’s running this town anyway?
Is Moultonboro moving toward a Town Manager?
In order to have a town manager, the voters must adopt the provisions of RSA Chapter 37 at an annual meeting. The question must be included on the warrant.
In the following minutes from the Selectmen budget workshop of 1/9/2009, it is being suggested that the “Town Administrator being delegated day to day line authority over the CEO (Code Enforcement Officer) and Director.” Carter Terenzini proposed in the 12/10/2008 workshop to create an Office of Development & Inspectional Services (ODIS). At that meeting the CEO expressed his strong feelings that the CEO be independent and report only to the Selectmen. We would agree. The Selectmen are after all elected officials and ultimately should have authority directly over this important function. A Town Administrator serves at the whim of the Selectmen and unlike a Town Manager has no statutory authority (RSA Chapter 37). Most importantly the voters of Moultonboro have not been heard.
Finally! There was a disagreement on the Board of Selectmen! This is something we rarely see in this town where the common vote is 5-0! Betsey Patten voiced her concern that the Master Plan Implementation Committee should fall under the guidance of the Planning Board and not the Board of Selectmen as recommended by the Town Planner. She suggested that they meet with the Planning Board and the Town Planner to discuss the matter further Joel Mudgett agreed with Betsey.
The discussion was interrupted by “If I may,’ from Carter Terenzini. He began a lengthy and misleading dialogue of why the jurisdiction of the MPIC should fall under the BoS as town departments such as fire, police, are not under the direction of the planning board. Betsey argued that she did not feel comfortable going forward without meeting with the Planning Board.
What is not clear is why did the Selectmen go forward with a vote? Why not table the issue to make sure that something as important as the implementation of the Master Plan is clear to all of the Selectmen? If there is disagreement, which in this case is a good thing, arrange for additional time and discussion. We have been waiting for quite some time to begin the process of implementing the Master Plan, but let’s do it right. Let’s do it without making more mistakes than we have in the past. We need for the town to go forward, not get stuck in the proverbial mud.
It wasn’t until the actual meeting minutes were published that the final vote was actually known, as they tend to speak rather softly up there at that table. We would once again, encourage the BoS to speak louder so that the audience in attendance could hear all that is said. Now that the Selectmen meetings are aired on Time Warner Cable, we will be able to control the volume by our remote controls.
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Yesterday, the TWC PEG channel 3 aired the first Moultonboro Board of Selectmen meeting (from last Thursday August 6 2009) unedited and in it's entirety. The quality of the broadcast was less than desired and the fault lies with TWC. They were provided with an HD quality DVD and for some reason that we are still trying to ascertain it didn't broadcast at that expected high level. They are working on it.
The schedule going forward will be Tuesday mornings from 10am-12pm and Tuesday evening from 7pm-9pm.
Since there is no Selectmen meeting this week, the next new meeting scheduled to be broadcast will be Tuesday August 26, 2009.
MCA
This is just a reminder to all our viewers out there, to attend a Right to Know Seminar Monday night August 10th at 7pm at the Moultoboro Library.
The Right to Know Law, known as RSA 91-A, is one of the most violated law by officals in NH. Many do not feel that they need to change the way they have always done things as they are above the law and do not feel they have to answer to their constituents.
We have had a recent violation of this law by our town officials in the procedures taken to hire a new police chief.
Please come and learn the proper way to adhere to this law.
We anticipate that the first official airing of the Moultonboro Board of Selectmen's meetings will be on Tuesday August 11, 2009 on Time Warner on the PEG channel at 7pm. The paperwork has been filled out. All the tee's have been crossed and the i's dotted. We believe we have all the ducks in a row and all the glitches worked out. We should be all set to go!! We are very excited and want everyone to pass the word around! Tune in and watch!!
We would like to extend a big thank you to our Town Administrator and Time Warner Cable for helping to put this together!
