At its Sept. 25 meeting, the Greene Select Board voted to override the vote of the people.
At multiple town meetings the citizens of our town voted not to allow the town to use tax money to hire someone to cut dead trees on private property even if they may fall on to a road during a storm. The vote taken will allow them, at their discretion, to pay all or some of the cost to remove the tree with the landowner’s permission.
This issue has been brought up multiple times at town meeting by myself, so I am not opposed to the idea. What I am against is going behind the backs of the people to do it. Select Board members might not like the way the voters choose, but that is the direction they are told to go in. As elected representatives they should adhere to the voters’ directions.
The vote was a 3-2 divided vote. The three members who voted for the motion were Sheldon Bubier, Amanda Leclerc and John Soucy. All three knew this was opposed by the citizens, but they did it anyway. They say the votes were not legally binding, but they were still votes nonetheless.
If this isn’t legally wrong, it is morally and ethically wrong. This just goes to show why nobody trusts our government.
If this is the way our local representatives act, God help us in Washington, D.C.
Glenn Chateauvert, Greene
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