This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

A Barge Through Mud

I was heartened to see the Town Campus Baseball Field renovation project halted and then reactivated after proper review by the Board of Finance (“Baseball Field Renovations Back On,” Jan. 26). The breakdown of process that lead to the stoppage reminded me of the $450,000 road paving debacle of last summer. It is a reminder of the importance of process in town government.

Often people complain that “the wheels of government turn slowly” and if you know me, you know my reply to that complaint is that in fact government does not run on wheels. It is more like pushing a barge through mud—and furthermore, it is that way on purpose. By design, the first selectman is not “The Decider”; the first selectman is the chair of a committee. In our form of government, decisions are made by the committee, and, when appropriate, reviewed by the Board of Finance, and then the first selectman carries out the wishes of the board.

First selectmen get in trouble when they act alone—thinking they are in charge—without consulting the full board. First Selectman Tom Banisch bypassed the CIP process, the approved town budget, and the Board of Selectmen to create the need for a $450,000 road paving special appropriation; he did the same with the baseball field. I should add that he is not the first, first selectman to blunder this way, and will not be the last.

I hope that he is contrite enough and humble enough to realize his errors in process and how those lead to errors in policy, and will make full and proper use of the designed process of decision making in town government, as burdensome and cumbersome as it may be.

Bill Gladstone

Madison