I’d like to comment on a Sun Journal article titled “Funds face vote at meeting” (March 31).

A majority of the selectmen voted to place $1.3 million on the town meeting warrant and not on the ballot. Not all the selectmen were in agreement.

I believe that large sums of money over $500,000 should go on the ballot and be voted on at the polls. Only about 125 persons usually attend the town meeting.

I would like to have had two or three options for the town garage presented at a public hearing where we could discuss what we need, what we can get by with and what fits our pocketbooks before the decision was made to put the articles on the town warrant or the ballot.

Informational meetings have been set up to tell people what we’ve done. At this time, what people want doesn’t make any difference. The estimated cost for the garage is $815,000 and $317,000 for the salt and sand shed. The committee asked that it be put on the town meeting warrant.

We should do something for an office for the foreman of public works. He works in bad conditions doing his office work, but we should look at our needs and wants and fit it to the taxpayers’ pocketbook.

Another $200,000 is for a police station. If the majority of townspeople want a police department, we need to provide a place to house them.
Selectman Caroline Allen, Monmouth