To the Editor:
I had to leave the Otisfield town meeting early for work. I left when the taxpayers had to point out to the town representatives how messed up there numbers were. They were so bad they had to be amended on the floor. Reflecting on this as I drove, I wondered as to why the Otisfield taxpayers are once again being asked to pay for the towns dereliction of duty with regard to another botched celltower review.
With the first celltower review and the present one the town could have hired, at no expense to the town taxpayers, independent third parties to assist in the review, including the services of a land-use lawyer, again at no expense to the taxpayer. In fact several Otisfield Tax Payers asked for this both then and now. If it were done we would have had service from a tower several years ago.
The town knew there was a legal issue with the telecom ordinance several months before the application for a Verizon tower was presented to the town. The SelectBoard chair chose not to have legal review it.
Questions were raised during the review process for both tower applications which could only be answered by an expert in their field. In both instances the town willfully neglected to seek that professional expertise payed for by the applicant, mind you, this is a legal requirement the applicant must honor if the town were competent enough to ask for it.
As a direct result of the SelectBoard’s unwillingness to fulfill their fiduciary duty’s to the taxpayers we all now must pay. We pay with our tax dollars and we will pay in the delay of service from another celltower while the legality of the process is reviewed.
This was all very avoidable, SHAME ON YOU!
Kristin Roy
Otisfield
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