This has been a stressful year for all of us in our daily lives, but life in Alna has been harder than it needed to be and harder than it should have been. My colleagues and I who were elected or appointed to simply serve this town have had their honesty, decency, and motives attacked and been subjected to unfair treatment. I hope this next year gets better for everyone.

Opponents of Jeff Spinney’s permitted, and since 2020 completed, project that went before the Planning Board have tied up the resources of our municipal government. This ongoing battle has cost the taxpayers a great deal of money and driven dedicated town officers and employees to resign or to simply decline to run again for offices in which they have served well and tirelessly for many years.  We have had clerks resign, selectmen leave, our planning board and appeals board members are pushed beyond a reasonable expectation of service, and we can’t get qualified new employees to fill open positions. I do believe everyone should have their opinion heard, don’t get me wrong, but in a reasonable and courteous way. Informed and opposing views are healthy, they can often help foster new ideas and adjust policies when presented respectfully and correctly. We need to return to that.

To be very clear, I am Melissa Spinney, not Jeff Spinney. We share a last name but are very different people. I don’t control my husband, nor could I, any more than his project opponents could. I am intentionally not a party to any of his projects or permit applications because of the public office I hold.  I have properly and legally recused myself from anything he has brought before the town. And likewise, Jeff intentionally doesn’ttell me the details of his plans, nor do I ask, or even want to know.  I take my job as Selectman seriously and I hope that we elect two more Selectmen to do the same.

I believe most of our townspeople want what I want: a return to reasonableness and understanding, and a normal response to issues that is in proportion to their seriousness. I want the projects that I started like the food pantry, community garden, and the giving tree to continue to flourish long after my term is up. I am not happy that some recent letters to editor have dropped my name in them without my permission, trying to capitalize on work mentioned previously that so many others and I have done in the last few years, work that the individual(s) in question were simply not a part of or ever offered to be a part of.

As you all know, we will not have a regular town meeting this year. At the ballot (or by absentee), I ask you to vote your conscience, your budget, your preferences on all the warrant items. I wish we could attend these articles in an open meeting, but we can’t right now.

I ask one thing of those among us who have been generally been satisfied with the way I, and the other selectmen and office staff who’ve worked with me, have managed the town; those who are satisfied with projects like the town garden, the food pantry, the new town office and grounds, the public access to trails, and the improvements of efficiency in office procedures; those who have satisfaction that Alna is in the best financial shape it has been in for many, many years since we now rely less on borrowed money and thus pay less interest, and have over $100,000 in surplus this year which we desperately need and have never had. Will you vote to elect two selectmen that will help me continue the good work we value? I am very proud to have been a part of these projects and they are what the town truly benefits from. Good Selectmen are the impetus for such town improvements and these benefits take a lot of research and time.

The town would benefit in electing two persons to office without any type of agenda. I have worked with both candidates, Chris Cooper and Kyle Levasseur, for many hours and on many projects over the years. I have found them both to be highly dedicated and professional individuals, committed to the town and its citizens, unbiased, fair, and agreeable to work with. Cooper has been an essential partner in the construction and operation of the food pantry that has done so much good for our people in this hard year. He donates many hours of volunteer work to help me run the pantry and he does know town government. Cooper previously served many years as Selectman and constable and even now, I often go to him for advice. Kyle is a combat Marine Corps. veteran of BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan who now wants to serve his town. You might not have met him; he is raising his new family as a son-in-law of the (Alna) Verney clan on the West Alna Rd and is well ensconced in the community. He always lends a hand when needed, often through the non-publicized volunteer projects of the Alna Snowmobile Club. Overall, Kyle is a quiet guy and isn’t looking to take credit in public forum for his personal gain, and that’s one of the reasons he is perfect for the job.

I gladly endorse these two candidates, Chris Cooper and Kyle Levasseur. I really believe it’s the winning combination this town needs right now, two selectmen who, combined, have a lot of experience running the town along with the newness, the motivation, and the sheer will to help get things done and to inspire us all onward in service of the town. 

Please elect them to sit with me in the year to come and let us work together to get Alna back to the kind of town we remember and the town we strive to be.

Thank you,

Melissa Spinney

First Selectman, Alna

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