To the editor,
When Brookfield voters go to the polls to elect Mitt Romney as our next President, they should be aware of several questions that can change Brookfield’s form of government as we know it today. The leadoff question will take away our right to vote for the person that will run the town.
Bill Davidson’s Charter Revision Commission has proposed that Brookfield be run by a hired manager accountable only to the Board of Selectmen, not the voters of Brookfield. The First Selectmen will no longer be our chief executive, who is hired and fired by we the people.
Instead Brookfield will be run by a hired manager that will not have to live in the town. That’s right, the manager they will have to raise our taxes to hire will not even be a tax payer in Brookfield. Furthermore, they will not have to live with the decisions they make for the town.
Who would give up their right to vote for the person they want to run the town? Who thinks it is a good idea to increase the burden on tax payers to hire a manager? Not me and I hope you feel the same way. Vote no to on question one for a Town Manager and vote no to increase our selectmen from three to five.
Chris Delia
Watching last nights education session on the Town's Constitution Amendments, the Town Charter, it was readily apparent that that current changes in the town's form of government attempts to fix something that is not broken. Based on the failure to make a case for change, for the sake of change - to something as important as Brookfield's form of local government - I agree that people should vote No on Election Day on the charter changes to protect their current rights under the town's constitution - the town charter. There are simply no compelling reason for change based upon the discussion if folks have any doubt, they can watch the tape of the meeting last night to make up their own mind on whether or not that bar has been met. To me clearly it has not.