I think that the good people of Rockingham deserve to know the facts about the assertions made by Jan-Mitchell Love, chair of the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees.
Mitchell-Love asserts that a current trustee (I assume she is referring to Ray Massucco) violated open-meeting law by “sending out a newsy email to all the trustees.” She also asserts that Elayne Clift stated in an email to trustees that “she knew she was breaking open-meeting law.” In fact, she said that “she knew she was breaking the rule” - the board's agreement not to send long attachments by email.
Any such emails were not in violation of Vermont open-meeting law. Nowhere in this law is there any reference to the distribution of any kind of document or material to public boards. The whole law is completely silent on the matter. This allegation is typical of the “make up the law as you go along” attitude of some of the trustees.
Interestingly enough, the Vermont Legislature has currently under consideration a bill to amplify existing open-meeting law and specifically clarify that materials circulated in advance to other members of a public agency, including trustees, for consideration at a subsequent meeting of the agency is not a violation.
On Nov. 13, in a joint meeting, the Rockingham Selectboard and the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees discussed the costs incurred in renovating the library, a project which has just been completed. First, let me say that by common consensus the town now has a beautiful library...
In reading Stephen F. Minkin's Viewpoint [“Helping Bangladesh battle an epidemic of rickets,” March 27], one might be left with the impression that the main cause of rickets in Bangladesh can be attributed to the lack of sufficient small fish (which provide essential calcium), which in turn is due...
As your last edition of The Commons notes, “The conversation continues” about the Bellows Falls Warming Shelter (BFWS). It is an important issue and one that understandably evokes quite a lot of emotion, as the letters from your readers have demonstrated. But I think it is also important for your readers to have the correct facts upon which to make an informed judgment on this matter. The main purpose of this letter is to do just this - provide some...
I am compelled to comment on Cathy Bergmann's letter [Voices, Dec. 12] on the subject of the Bellows Falls Warming Shelter. I find Ms. Bergmann's letter to be rambling, almost to the point of incoherence. We are told we are to be informed about the facts but instead we are provided in the most part with a litany of opinion and selfserving value judgments. The one comment I can heartily endorse is her statement: “Now I am truly confused.” The...