Let the People Speak First

The Republican candidates for the Board of Directors today called on the incumbent members of the majority to be held accountable for their record on allowing public comment at the beginning of every meeting.

“We want a meaningful public comment session at the beginning of every meeting,” said Director Lou Spadaccini. “We have voted for it once and with a Republican majority, we’ll make it happen.”

On February 13, 2007, the Board of Directors voted in vote #073-07 on a motion to permit public comment at the beginning of the second meeting. The three Republican Directors all voted for the proposal while the incumbent majority opposed it.  The measure failed by a vote of 3-6.

“We realize that the people of Manchester need to be heard when it matters - before the decisions are made,” added Cheri Pelletier. “We’ve seen our meetings stretch late into the night – 10pm, 11pm, later on occasion – and we need to make sure that when people have something to say, we listen.”

“I think we have different priorities. I would vote to hear from the people at the beginning of each meeting,” said candidate Rob Desilet. “It was 3-6 vote last time. With a Republican majority it would be 6-3 and people could speak at the beginning of every meeting.”

“This is an issue that distinguishes us from our colleagues. We will be accountable to the people. We’ll let them speak at the beginning of each meeting and hear what they have to say,” said Director Matt Peak.

“Our team is devoted to making Manchester shine and establishing a strong connection between the Town and the Town leaders; the first thing our team intends to do to bring about this connection is allowing the citizen to speak at the beginning of every meeting,” added candidate Jeff Beckman.

Candidate Mark Tweedie added, “This is common sense. We should listen to the people before we make decisions that affect everyone in town. It is ridiculous that we don’t do that now.”