On March 10th, Winchester residents voted on a zoning warrant article submitted by the board of selectmen to override an existing ordinance and allow composting of various wastes -- and their smells, dust, noise, etc.
The 25 to 155 tons of waste per day would be brought ion from out of state by a Vermont company; but would mostly be Massachusetts garbage.
The company, Triple T Trucking of Brattleboro, is a commercial hauler and has never run a waste/composting/transfer station.
Triple T never made an application to introduce composting; however, the chair of the planning board and the board of selectmen met with Triple T on Dec. 3rd, 2008.
At that time, minutes from the meeting reflect, the planning board did not want to propose an amendment for the people to vote on.
The planning board had a public information meeting with one member of the public attending; at a second meeting, no more than six members of the public were present. Then, on Dec. 18th, a legal notice was finally placed in The Sentinel.
That is it folks, -- that is all the notice you get.
Fortunately, 865 of the 2,902 registered voters turned out and voted and the article failed, 524 - 300.
Article 35, as submitted by the board of selectmen, called to allow composting, recommended by the planning board.
The selectmen voted 4-0 in favor, the one opposing selectman was sick that day and did not vote. There are 7 people on the planning board.
Never, never has there been a properly advertised notice of a public meeting to discuss composting -- my God, 22 - 155 tons per day !
At the deliberative session, the board of selectmen chairman suggested that since the article could not be changed as written, that there was no need to discuss it.
Remember, this is a deliberative session. Only because the minority selectmen, along with state Rep. Robert Carr, spoke up, was it even discussed.
There was one motion to close discussion and adjourn, by the chairman. This makes it seem like someone is hiding something, or attempting to "slip" something in.
At minimum, an ordinance should not be changed until an application is submitted.
And something this serious should require notice of at least two public meetings solely pertaining to the issue.
That is not what democracy is all about.
Winchester needs openness and transparency and free and open debates. Also, selectmen should be required to have a published telephone number.
Winchester, we can do a lot better.
J. Keenan
Winchester
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Winchester Deserves Better Leaders
The following was submitted to the Reader Opinion section of tonight's Keene Sentinel. Thought it was a very interesting opinion based on fact and should be made available to everyone that does not subscribe to the paper.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Let's hope that the select people understand that the town said "NO" to this project. I expect that they would follow the direction of the townspeople and not those of the planning board. Once again we have to pay attention and get people out to vote. The bright spot in this is the polls are open in ten months to change leadership.
You don't have to wait ten months. TTT is bringing their dump project to the planning board again on Monday, May 18 at 7 pm. Your voice can be heard soon. Grab your neighbors and SHOW UP to this meeting! We don't want a DUMP in Winchester. These guys think we are really STUPID.
This time they have changed the name to sound more appealing than "Resource Recovery Park" to "Industrial / Commercial Park". They are going to try and get their project approved by the town, get their project rolling and then claim hardship when the town says something.
Or if the past is any example...they are hoping the town won't say anything.
You people all had a chance to elect some new leaders and instead stayed with the ones you constantly complain about. Reading hear it shows that there isn't enough interested citizens to even show up at the polls and do something about the mess your town is in. You have no one to blame but yourselves for what's going on in Winchester and until the rest of it's citizens take notice, get up off their collective lazy deriers and do something about it, your town will remain a go no where dying town with high taxes and no business.
Looking IN, you are correct, but some of us are not giving up. The voters will change[ i hope ] when they can't put food on the table, or with the help of this web site they decide to take a stand. It takes a lot to wake people up.
Are our selectmen going to step up to the plate and curtail our special detail police work that is wearing out our cruisers and inflating pensions, in support of House Bill 532? Not another town in the area is abusing this policy like Winchester.
House Bill #532 WOULD ELIMINATE payments made by employers to members for [other extra or special duty]. If passed it may decrease state expenditures by $400,000, and county and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount. So if its not to late get all over your state and local reps.
Post a Comment