Once again, the tone-deaf Heath Select Board has made a counterintuitive decision that will impact every resident in town without soliciting the input of the town residents. We are sitting here in stunned disbelief after learning that the Select Board has, firstly, overlooked a tenured, certified, licensed, experienced employee to promote the newest, inexperienced, uncertified, unlicensed member of the highway crew that isn’t even familiar with the roads in the town, to the foreman position; and now, the tenured employee has been notified by the Select Board of their intent to terminate his employment due to a “financial/budget” issue.
Need I remind you that Heath’s financial and budgetary issues are painfully and painstakingly hammered out at the annual Town Meeting? This financial/budgetary staffing issue should be presented at the May 6 annual Town Meeting so that all impacted can be present and involved.
To add to the assault on this employee and town residents, the Select Board has, in a blatant display of cowardice, scheduled the meeting to finalize this staffing decision via executive session at 3 p.m. on Thursday, when most working residents will be unable attend in a show of support for the impacted employee.
As the daughter of a 27-year employee of the town of Rowe, I understand better than most do the skills, certifications, licenses, experience, knowledge, dedication, commitment, loyalty and personal sacrifice demanded of a member of a small-town highway department member and their family. Skilled, loyal individuals that are willing to work for barely over poverty levels on a remote mountaintop are difficult to find, and it is extremely short-sighted to sacrifice these “unicorn” individuals via nepotism.
Heath wouldn’t be in such dire financial straits had it sold the 18 Jacobs Road Building in 2019 when the opportunity presented itself. That sale would have provided the town with not only tax revenue, but also employment, and relief from the constant weighty burden of the albatross building.
More recently, Heath has had another opportunity for tax revenue and employment, but due to the incessant whining of a few biased residents, that opportunity may escape Heath as well. Our property taxes continue to increase exorbitantly due to repeated poor, self-serving decisions by our Select Board.
It’s bad enough that residents have to battle a constant onslaught from our corrupt state and federal administrations — one would like to hope for some respite in our tiny idyllic hometown. We are all neighbors, family really, and our tiny town shouldn’t be this divided.
Diane Stowe and William Drouin live in Heath.