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Precedents and Traditions

The Dec. 19 Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting was grueling, at best, to get through. The lack of parliamentary procedure made the meeting hard to stomach, but even worse was the clear partisan politics that took place under the direction and leadership of our new first selectman, Peggy Lyons (D). There were great points of concern and reasonable requests that would have benefited the town as a whole given to the BOS by concerned citizens. However, she apparently felt it was more important to demean other board members because of party affiliation rather than to find the best candidates for the job.

Precedents and traditions are great for the holidays, but not always when it comes to the best interest of a community as a whole. Sometimes as leaders we are called to break what we individually would have considered a precedent for the greater good. Our own town broke precedent this year when we elected our first selectman to the board who had no prior experience in an administrative town role, but promised change. In fact we should be proud to have strong female leaders like Selectman Erin Duques (R) and Lyons helping shape our town. However, what is being shown is not progression, is not change, rather much of the same of what we as citizens experience daily watching the lack of transparency in Hartford or in our nation’s capital.

This town deserves better and right now citizens are being shut down because of our party affiliation. How can we expect the best for our town when we shut down people from being involved because they don’t have a D next to their name? I call on Peggy Lyons to break what she considers precedent and lead based off of qualifications, not party affiliation.

Thomas Gilmer

Madison