Dear Editor:

Would you sign a 20-year contract without knowing what the terms are? Or would you authorize someone to sign a 20-year contract on your behalf without telling you what's in it?

The Wiscasset voters did that on the June ballot when they gave the Select Board the authority to negotiate and execute a 20-year contract with MSD Wiscasset LLC.

Without any discussion of the details of these contracts, the Select Board voted unanimously to include articles 4 and 5 on the November ballot. Article 4 deals with a 20-year contract with the Maine Art Gallery. Article 5 deals with a 20-year Net Billing Credit Agreement with an unspecified party. The Wiscasset Select Board is asking the voters (the legislative body) for carte blanche authority to negotiate and execute 20-year contracts without providing the voters the details.

The authority to enter into a contract belongs to the voters. The Select Board executes the contract on behalf of the voters. The decision to enter into a contract belongs to the voters. These contracts may or may not benefit Wiscasset. Without knowing the details how can the voter make a decision? It appears that the Select Board has decided that the voters will have to vote for it to find out what's in it. Sound familiar doesn't it?

The voters have a right to know what they are voting on.

Edward J. Polewarczyk

Wiscasset