Dear Editor:

A citizens’ petition on Alna’s Dec. 14 ballot proposes to reorganize the selectboard so that the members of the selectboard share responsibilities equally. I think this is an excellent idea.

Currently, Alna’s 1^st selectboard member gets paid three times as much as the other two selectboard members and, over time, without any explicit policy adopted by the town, has assumed significantly greater control over running the town.

The problem with that system, as we saw last March when the 1st selectboard member abruptly resigned with half of her term remaining, is that the sudden loss of that person leaves the remaining selectboard members without adequate information and institutional knowledge to run the town, especially when they are newly elected.

Thanks to a lot of hard work by the current selectboard members and the town office staff Alna has successfully overcome those challenges this year, but it would be wise to avoid such a situation in the future.

One important step the town should take to avoid a future problem is to clarify that all three selectboard members share equal responsibility. That, in fact, is what state law says, unless the town has adopted a different policy, which Alna has not.

A recent review of more than 25 towns surrounding Alna revealed that, based on the amount of stipends provided, 19 towns generally share responsibilities of selectboard members equally. Of those 19 towns, seven towns do provide a modest additional stipend for the selectboard chair ($50/month or less), presumably for the additional responsibility of presiding over the meetings.

I believe that a policy equalizing the responsibilities of the selectboard would encourage teamwork and collaboration among the selectboard members and would benefit the town.

I encourage voters to vote yes on Article 4 on Dec. 14.

Erik Huber
Alna