Center report prompts dispute in Moultonborough
Article Date: Saturday, March 15, 2008
The distribution of a study document on the proposed community center before it was officially made public has troubled town officials.
Laurie Whitley and Tom Howard of the Recreation Strategic Planning Team approached the Board of Selectmen to express concerns that a document compiled by the Municipal Needs Committee for the selectmen was distributed to the public before the selectmen had reviewed it.
The Municipal Needs Committee discussed two petitioned warrant articles during its March 4 meeting that proposed appropriating $375,000 in engineering and architectural costs for the center and another that proposed appropriating $100,000 to create a fund for the project.
The committee compiled a spreadsheet listing the possible operating costs of the center plus costs of implementing other suggested improvements to town fields and beaches proposed by the RSPT in its report.
The document, compiled from numbers given in the RSPT plan, was attached to the meeting minutes and sent to the selectmen for review at their March 6 meeting, and was made available to the public on March 7.
Whitley said the same document was received by residents on March 7 in a mailing from the Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance, meaning it was mailed out before the selectmen reviewed it.
"I'm very concerned about it and very disappointed that there's someone in the Municipal Needs Committee who wears two hats," Whitley said, expressing concern that a "chain of command" in distributing such information had not been followed.
Municipal Needs Committee Chair Ralph Carrasco said it was the first time he had heard about the mailing and "I, too, am disturbed by it."
Carrasco said he emailed the sheet to the selectmen at 4 p.m. on March 6 to try to get it on the selectmen's agenda.
"I will ask. I will find out what happened," Carrasco said.
Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance member Hollis Austin asked if the citizen's group was "being accused of something."
Whitley replied that the concern regarded information from the municipal needs committee and the alliance was not accused of anything. Carrasco said the issue is only a concern regarding communication, as the alliance is free to distribute any material it wishes to distribute.
"I do not want any form of breakdown between our committees," Carrasco said. "It's been three years in the making and I don't want to disturb any work."
The committee compiled a spreadsheet listing the possible operating costs of the center plus costs of implementing other suggested improvements to town fields and beaches proposed by the RSPT in its report.
The document, compiled from numbers given in the RSPT plan, was attached to the meeting minutes and sent to the selectmen for review at their March 6 meeting, and was made available to the public on March 7.
Whitley said the same document was received by residents on March 7 in a mailing from the Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance, meaning it was mailed out before the selectmen reviewed it.
"I'm very concerned about it and very disappointed that there's someone in the Municipal Needs Committee who wears two hats," Whitley said, expressing concern that a "chain of command" in distributing such information had not been followed.
Municipal Needs Committee Chair Ralph Carrasco said it was the first time he had heard about the mailing and "I, too, am disturbed by it."
Carrasco said he emailed the sheet to the selectmen at 4 p.m. on March 6 to try to get it on the selectmen's agenda.
"I will ask. I will find out what happened," Carrasco said.
Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance member Hollis Austin asked if the citizen's group was "being accused of something."
Whitley replied that the concern regarded information from the municipal needs committee and the alliance was not accused of anything. Carrasco said the issue is only a concern regarding communication, as the alliance is free to distribute any material it wishes to distribute.
"I do not want any form of breakdown between our committees," Carrasco said. "It's been three years in the making and I don't want to disturb any work."
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