Ossipee “selectmen’s chair Jonathan Smith said the Main Street Program is essentially defunct.” “In fact, he and the other selectmen voted 3-0 not to give the Main Street Program $2,500 that voters approved at the annual meeting last week.”
Tuesday, May 28th, the meeting was going to be a public session on the demolition of The Building used by Main Street Ossipee and others at 15 Moultonville Road. Apparently, a few Ossipee Residents circulated a petition to force this issue to be voted on at a public town meeting.
My name was on the petition.
When I started paying attention to and voting on local issues, I voted for the $2500 to go to Main Street Ossipee. Two days later, I read that the selectmen rescinded the money. The Main Street Ossipee group sued the town for failing to notify them. Well, apparently, the notifications required are minimal, and that is what the selectmen did—the absolute minimum.
Sometimes, something may be “Legal,” but that does not make it “Right.”
This has a stink on it. When the Chair, Jonathan Smith, finished his statement on planning a special town meeting to vote on this issue, he looked at the people who submitted the petition and said, “This is a waste of money.”
We want to thank Ken Goodall for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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Well Mr. Smith, we may end up voting to demolish the building, and very well may, but it will be on the People of Ossipee to weigh the options and make that decision. There was a lot of talk about moving the Police Station to 43 Chickville Road.
Would it be a better decision to move the police into the Highway Department Building and have the police take over the building behind the Town Offices? There were many pros and cons in the discussion.
One of the gentlemen who got the signatures feels this way as well, but the topic was driven by Dallas Emery Jr. Everyone there agreed the building is a deal and the town should buy the building no matter what. A couple of people kept defending the purchase, even though no one there was against it.
Mr. Emery was discussing different options and reasons for the move, and the Chair Laughed and said he was going to set a time limit for Mr. Emory. I stood aside out of camera view and watched and listened, but as soon as the chair said this, I spoke up and said, “I Yield my time to Mr. Emory!” It may not be in the transcript since I did not properly state my name, but it should be heard on the video.
All we are asking for is transparency and better communication, legal or not.
The profits from the sale of 5 Dore Street, the old police station, is another issue; if it does not sell, they may have to temporarily divert paving funds to cover the price and return the money if and when the property sells.
It brought back a lot of bad memories dealing with these local boards, but I had already been banished from Exeter, and Ossipee was our Dream place, so I really did not have anywhere else to go. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
So, it goes.
