Complaints Are
From the Past

In response to Mr. Dougherty’s letter last week I would like to offer the following:

The Selectboard of Braintree encourages all taxpayers and voters to express concerns with the operations and management of the town at our regular meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month.

The selectboard was taken aback by Mr. Dougherty’s complaints in last weeks Herald, because we had not heard from him before this to be able to address his concerns. Furthermore, we are uncertain as to which roads in Braintree Mr. Dougherty would have issue with. No other taxpayers or voters have expressed concern or had issue with the condition of the roads to the extreme level that Mr. Dougherty suggests. On the contrary, we feel the condition of the roads are in good shape and have been consistently maintained considering the wet year we have had. Thank you, Mark and crew.

Road side mowing? Everything went according to plan this year. It is my understanding that all of Braintree roadsides were mowed twice – right on schedule. What’s to complain about?

It is also unclear as to how Mr. Dougherty would make such a comment regarding a "dictatorship" style of town management when he has not attended any selectboard meetings or witnessed how our meetings are actually conducted. The Braintree selectboard is a VERY functional board, working together for the good of the taxpayers and voters of Braintree. I find this accusation to be way out of line and totally unfounded.

The doors on the Braintree town garage are in response to our insurance carrier’s requirement to provide a secure and safe place to store and maintain the town’s equipment. This is a facilities upgrade that was long overdue in a world where vandals run rampant – and take any opportunity to wreak havoc on others personal property. We are hopeful that the new garage doors will provide comfort to the taxpayers and voters of Braintree as an additional protection to safe guard the town’s equipment.

The planning board and zoning board are separate boards. It is very difficult to foster taxpayer and voter participation in these boards. I would encourage Mr. Dougherty and anyone else who is interested to volunteer for participation on either one of these boards. I believe there are currently at least two openings.

My experience as a selectboard member is in its infantile stages, having only been on the board since March. I have found my counterparts Jocelyn Stohl and Walt Palmer, the employees, the elected officials, and the appointed officials all committed to working together to get the job done and represent fairly the taxpayers and voters of Braintree.

In retrospect, I find it interesting that many of the issues that Mr. Dougherty references in his letter are OLD, prior-year concerns and issues—that have been discussed, reviewed, and resolved long ago. Even if the outcome was contrary to Mr. Dougherty’s opinion on how things should have been handled, they are still in the past. It is time to move on. It is not productive to continuously relive the past and rehash prior decisions. It is in the best interest Braintree to look forward and move on.

So Mr. Dougherty, I invite you and any other concerned citizen, to attend our regular select board meetings, or even better run for office, and express your concerns in a face-to-face forum which can deal with your issues and resolve them as deemed appropriate.

George R. Gray

Braintree Selectboard