Stepping down from transfer the right thing to do

We want to be the first to commend Selectmen Royce Heath and Paul Nadeau for giving their notice on their employment at the town transfer station.

We think it is a step in the right direction, a step that needed to be taken and should've been taken before either was elected.

Having a selectman who works for the town is a conflict of interest waiting to happen.

Having two selectmen who work for the town virtually brings government to a standstill.

How can a selectmen vote with the people's interest at heart on matters that affect him or her.

Self-interest will always win out and town residents and taxpayers will always be the losers.

Naysayers might say, well, they can recuse themselves from the vote.

But then you have two making a decision, which brings its own set of problems. What just happened with two selectmen working at the same department was a tipping point that should have finally opened the eyes of everyone that having town workers as selectmen is not an accident waiting to happen, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

When Mr. Nadeau won his selectman's seat and problems of illegal selectmen's meetings were voiced when he and Mr. Heath were working together, some said, "If you had five selectmen, this wouldn't be a problem, because it wouldn't be a quorum."

We would submit that adding more selectmen is not the answer.

The answer is for the board to make a ruling that no selectman can earn a paycheck working for the town, with the exception of his selectmen's salary, of course. Now would be a good time to do that.

We're not sure why the two selectmen suddenly decided they would resign their positions at the transfer station. We're not sure of their motivations.

But we won't look a gift horse in the mouth, either. For whatever reason it was, we are delighted.

Now is time for them to step up once again and end the practice altogether of selectmen not only working for town departments, but also of extracting town money as vendors - like snow plowing - as well.

Neither a man nor a selectman can serve two masters.

And in case Mr. Heath and Mr. Nadeau didn't know it, your master is the residents and taxpayers of Lebanon and no one else.

- HT