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Failure of Leadership

Once again, the citizens and businesses of Guilford have been “ignored and disrespected” by the Board of Selectmen (BOS). On July 15, the BOS unanimously rejected three more petitions signed by 90 Guilford residents.

The first petition asked the BOS to begin discussions with the APT Foundation to limit methadone treatment at their Guilford clinic to a mobile operation, i.e., methadone patients would not be permitted to ingest methadone at the clinic, nor would patients be dispensed methadone to take home. These common-sense requests would eliminate methadone patients from driving under the influence and would deter drug pushers from following methadone patients to Guilford to buy their methadone.

The second petition asked the BOS to amend the Town Charter regarding town meetings. Specifically, the date for the annual town budget meeting would be changed from the first Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday in May. This year, $953,000 in state grants and $650,000 of medical insurance savings were not reflected in the budget, which went out to referendum on April 16, resulting in unnecessarily higher taxes for Guilford residents. Other changes would protect Constitutional rights by requiring that all town meetings be announced at least three times using the Guilford mass-communications system, that all meetings utilize Roberts Rules of Order, that secret paper ballots be used for all votes on motions to reduce the budget, and that no one be permitted to call the question on motions before 45 minutes of debate has taken place.

The third petition asked that the BOS extend the moratorium on cannabis dispensaries in Guilford for six months and place the nonbinding question “Should recreational and medical cannabis dispensaries be allowed in Guilford?” on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The unanimous rejection of these common-sense petitions by the BOS is an abject failure of leadership.

Dave Holman

Guilford