letter to the editor

A call for integrity

Mon, 05/28/2018 - 4:00pm

Dear Editor:

Wiscasset has had more than its share of contentious issues over the past few years and there are calls for neighbors to mend fences and a return to civil discourse. The upcoming election for three Board of Selectmen seats is a good place to start. The way in which selectmen handle thorny town issues can set the tone for the way we as citizens debate the same issues. Consider some of the less savory moments in the recent past, were they mole hills made into mountains? Could they have been dealt with in a less confrontational manner?

There was the firefighters’ car washing tradition. Which board members thought it necessary to spend our taxes on lawyers to stop them? There was the false complaint against the Historic Preservation Commission. Which board members thought it necessary to spend over $10,000 of our taxes on lawyers to eliminate it? There was the School Board’s Energy Project. Which board members thought it necessary to spend thousands of our tax dollars on lawyers to stop it? The town even spent our taxes on lawyers in an attempt to justify removing yard signs from private property — illegally I might add.

There should be no place for town officials who spend our money using lawyers as some sort of fixers. Sometimes we need lawyers, but we’re a small town and we deserve a board willing to work with department heads and committees to solve problems. If we continue to elect selectmen who choose aggressive legal action as the first option there will be no fence-mending and no civil discourse. When I vote on June 12, I will ask myself, of the candidates who have previously served as selectmen, who has acted with fairness, integrity, and honesty in serving the people of Wiscasset? My answer, the only answer, is Ben Rines.

Kim Dolce

Wiscasset