With all due respect in response to the letter from Jeff Harris and the editorial in the April 9 issue of the Press, I feel it is necessary to respond to correct some misperceptions.
Jeff is completely correct when he says the Finance Committee’s role is to report and recommend. I feel that is exactly what we are doing, but in order to do this in a responsible way we do have to ask probing questions, question how things are done, and ask why things are not done differently, etc. I cannot prevent people from feeling that these questions are telling department heads how to run their departments.
The fact is, we cannot tell department heads how to run their departments, as correctly pointed out by the editors and Jeff, but we can “recommend” to them, as well as to the town as a whole, how they might be able to do things differently, which could result in a better value for the cost. I understand the friction this kind of probing can cause, especially when it is being done during hard times, and is likely being done to make recommendations related to funding reductions. But I personally would not be able to make recommendations to the citizens of this town without having had these difficult conversations. As a citizen myself, I would feel it irresponsible of any committee to either mandate or to make recommendations without having done this level of investigation.
Bob Thurston
Chairman, Finance Committee
