We must work as a team to get a new nursing home done

To Strafford County Commissioners and Administrator Bower:

After the last delegation meeting, where bonding for a new $170 plus million-dollar nursing facility was not approved, Commissioner Maglaras approached several of us in the hall.

Visibly upset at the result of the vote, he asked us, "What is it you Republicans want? How much do you want to spend?"

Those of us there reminded the commissioner that we do not speak for the entire caucus and, therefore, would have no information for him at that time. Over the past nearly two years, members of our caucus have repeatedly stated that the path we were heading down was unacceptable, yet those pleas have been met with zero acknowledgment.

Instead, you chose to plow ahead, ignoring our counsel and oblivious to our messaging. At our last meeting, we believe it was made abundantly clear by our caucus, as well as members of the Democrat Caucus and the public in general, that the lack of transparency is unacceptable, and the processes employed to date are severely broken.

This process will require a significant change. Therefore, this memo is to advise you that the Republican members of the Strafford County Delegation have initiated consideration of precisely our expectations for going forward. We will merge our member's input into a single document that we expect to place in your possession no later than early February.

Until accomplished, we see little reason to discuss the past regarding previous iterations of the nursing facilities proposed by the commissioners and administrator, as designed by Warrenstreet Architects. So there is no misunderstanding; the Republican Caucus (along with several from the Democrat Caucus) have zero appetite to see the current architectural firm continue in any capacity. Our Republican Caucus has illustrated by our votes that both iterations of the overextravagant plans shall not be an option. We are, however, in receipt of the recent notice of your desire for another "work session" on January 22nd. Rather than rehash the past plans for the nursing home that will not go forward, we may prefer to utilize that time to explore many questions and comments we have regarding monies spent to date (most without delegation approval). An excessive amount of county funds have been dispersed, and we, as well as our citizens, are due rational explanations before any further actions may be necessary. Other items regarding past processes will also be on the table.

Finally, it has been a rather unfortunate and ultimately unproductive, yet costly, couple of years. We hope you will now take our guidance seriously as we move forward. A significant amount of Strafford County taxpayer money would not have been needlessly squandered if this nursing home project had been a collaborative effort from the beginning, let alone the ridiculous amount of time and energy wasted by members of the delegation in the process.

We look forward to a productive and transparent future.

Sincerely, and on behalf of the entire Republican Caucus;

= Rep. Claudine Burnham

- Rep. Cliff Newton

- Rep. Kelley Potenza

- Rep. Len Turcott