Voter Questions & Answers

Q: My initial reaction to your candidacy was of concern that you would be a one issue candidate,
that issue being to focus on the Police Department's culpability in the events of May 11 and
corrective/punitive actions in response. It is my understanding that you have attended
several recent meetings to get up to speed on issues before the town and posted your
thoughts on specific issues, and this is good, but I still don't have an understanding of your
overall goals for the strategic direction of the town. Where do you see the town in 3, 5, and
10 years?

A: I would like to say that initially I decided to run because of the events of 5/11. However, it
was never about a witch hunt or laying the blame on any one individual or department. I
firmly believe that in order to take the necessary steps as a community to heal we need a
clear understanding of what lead up to May 11, 2007. We also need this information in order
to take corrective action to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again in our community.
I don’t believe pretending it didn’t happen or wishing it away is either productive or moral.
The culpability and punitive actions you mention is the domain of the courts; if and when any
suits are brought forth by either the Kenney or McKay families. As a Selectman of course this
law suit would concern me. At some point in time however, the Board may be forced to
evaluate the long-term psychological harm versus short term financial harm to the town. My
conscience tells me if mistakes were made we should admit them and learn from them.

You are correct in your understanding that I have spent a great deal of time getting up to
speed on the other issues Franconia faces. I have attended several meetings and have
spoken to many individuals. The individuals I have spoken to include past and present
Selectmen, past and present law enforcement officers, past and present members of the Life
Squad and fire departments, as well as many life-long residents who care greatly about
Franconia. The information they have openly shared with me and the concerns they have
raised has been an eye-opening experience, but unfortunately not in a positive way. These
are the issues I’ve raised in the blog; long term problems of replacing an outdated
infrastructure, shorter term issues like the ambulance transport issue, personnel issues and
accountability, and psychological issues of trust and faith that the town’s leadership will do the
right thing.

That is not to say that there isn’t a lot of good here as well. One of Franconia’s strengths and
best assets are it citizens. Citizens who have the desire to volunteer their services on various
committees and boards and the knowledge and wisdom to develop effective solutions and
alternatives to the problems we do face. It is an asset I’d personally like to leverage, because
as I’ve said, I don’t have all the answers.

You asked about strategic direction. To be perfectly blunt the near-term prospects are difficult
at best. We have to invest in our infrastructure and this investment will come at a cost,
however we have no choice. We also have the psychological collateral of 5/11 to deal with,
especially with the younger generation. Trust must be restored and to do that we have to
reach out to the children at the grade school level. The police, in fact the entire town, must
get involved in reaching out to them.

Economically, I’d like the town to work with the state to promote what we have to offer. That
includes bolstering tourism and leveraging Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch State Park
through increased advertising and re-investment. I think the proposed land swap at Mittersill
is a step in that direction but more should be done. We are losing tourist dollars to Lincoln
and Bretton Woods. I’ve thought that perhaps extending the multi-use trail system so that the
village is connected with existing trails may bring in additional revenue to the local
 businesses. I haven’t gotten a good gauge on the specifics or ramifications of this but it is
one thought I had.

I’d also like to see more youth-oriented activities in town, perhaps a pool and or town
recreation center. This obviously is not in the cards in the near term given the other needs
the town has to fund, but this seems a logical extension of the proposal in the budget to fund
the position of recreation director.

Growth is something I think we should monitor closely. The small town atmosphere and
recreational opportunities is really what sets Franconia apart. We need to be aware of the
additional strain growth may put on our resources, be it water, roads, or schools. There is
also the possibility that too much growth may actually present us with the problem of pollution
in the Gale River. Seepage from the homes being built may contaminate the river to such a
level that we may be forced to build a water treatment facility. Going “green” is mandatory.
All future buildings should be energy efficient, existing buildings should be retrofitted in a
cost-effective manner. These are things that strategically we should be aware of and planning
for.

While it may appear that I’ve painted a bleak picture, I feel in 5 to 10 years we will have made
the difficult but necessary decisions to position Franconia to be economically sound and
fiscally prudent. I know we have the assets in the citizens to make this happen, we just need
the leadership.

Q: I believe many of the contributing factors go beyond just the Police Department and point to
an overall, systemic lack of management in the Town. Perhaps this is a result of our system
of volunteer/part-time Selectmen and no Town Manager, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't
work to correct that lack of management and execution. I would like to hear your thoughts
and ideas on addressing the day to day management of the Town.

A: You question about management strategy is a timely one. I have just sat down with
Selectman Carleen Quinn and she has had some great ideas that frankly have been ignored
by the current Board. Here is a list of action items we’ve come up with:

1. A comprehensive personnel manual needs to be developed. This manual will define the
town’s policy and procedures as they apply to all employees. We hope that by having
clear, consistent, verifiable, and enforceable policies problems can be avoided or nipped
in the bud before becoming problematic. The “rules of the road” will be known to all and
consequences for breaking them will be clearly defined. The hope is to foster trust and
communication amongst employees, between departments, and with the Select Board.
Perceived favoritism will be a thing of the past.

2. Revise and in some cases create job descriptions where none currently exist. Included in
this process is should be realistic and quantifiable performance goals. We need to
answer the five W’s of each job; Who, What, When, Where, and Why. This could be
facilitated by having each selectman act as a point person for one or more departments.
This selectman would be the department head’s liaison to the board and would
occasionally spend time on the job to learn more about the department and the problems
it faces.

3. Meet with all department heads on a pre-defined schedule. This is envisioned as two-
way communication giving the department heads the ability to voice their concerns and
priorities.

4. Meet with all elected officials (Town Clerk, Treasurer, etc) for the same purpose of
opening communication giving them the ability to voice their concerns and priorities.
 5. Re-examine the roles to the Town Hall support staff including the Administrative Assistant,
Bookkeeper, Executive Secretary, and Secretary/Receptionist. The goal is to see how
better to utilize the existing staff. We feel there is a need to better define these roles so
that the growing needs of the town are met.

Q: I'm familiar with your web page and blogs. While I find them well written and in cases
humorous, I am concerned of the impact they would have upon your ability to manage should
you be elected Selectman.

A: You are not the only person to raise this concern, and consistent with my believe that public
input should be part of the decision making process, I will be taken a higher road from here
on out. I am very proud of the fact that my blog has raised awareness of the many issues
here in town. I am confident that without this medium, the voters would have far less
information from which to make a decision. I try to use humor to carry a message and to
make some dry subject more palatable. I believe information is power.

Some of my posts were written in response to acts I found appalling and decisions I found
incredulous. Some people have taken offense to my “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”
post. This post was written in response to the Board’s decision to not support the citizen
petitioned Article 2 regarding Ross Ambulance service. The Board acknowledged the liability
issue surrounding the Life Squad doing ambulance transports, yet still chose to turn a blind
eye with their decision. It was obvious the prudent decision should have been to protect the
town from liability exposure. That is tantamount and the only decision factor they should
have considered had they really had Franconia’s best interest at heart. Mere words could not
have done this fiasco justice; I felt it required literary “framing”. In my defense, I did flat out
state that the intent was to interject humor, and if anyone was offended I am sorry. The
internet is a wonderful medium but sometimes intent can be misconstrued because the
human elements of voice inflection and facial expressions are not present. I will turn this
around and remind Mr. Belz and Mr. McLeod that rather than to focus on my delivery perhaps
they should focus on clarifying their decisions for the voters.