To the editor:
This is to alert Ludlow residents that if you want the town to continue forward as it has the last three years and not return to the way it used to be, please attend the Annual Town Meeting on Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the Town Office.
There is a move by a small group to enact ordinances to remove individual elected Select Board members and to increase the number on the board to five. I am writing this now so you can check what I say is factual. Please follow up. Why would someone want to remove people from office who have not raised our taxes in three years? Because contracts were not awarded in the way they wanted. They even spoke out and insisted that a contract be cancelled with Steelstone and given to a contractor whose bid would have cost the taxpayers a minimum of $25,000 more last year. Please check the bids on file from last year and ask to see the minutes of the meeting at the Town Office and it will verify this is true.
These same folks want to have our town manager replaced. Strange that they would want to replace someone who is doing the job as it should be done. Some of this group have publicly stated that things just aren’t being done the way they used to be. Well, I sure would not want that. I remember how it used to be. The town was being mismanaged badly and for personal gain for some.
Do you remember when the office was closed as the state came in and took our records. Check the 2010 and 2011 town reports to see the state auditor’s report that was a result of the state’s investigation. It shows the mismanagement and illegal activity that was taking place. Do we want to go back to that? I sure don’t.
These are some of the same folks that sent us a letter just prior to the vote on school withdrawal. Why was it sent at the last minute? Because there was some information included that was not correct. It was stated that Houlton had no surplus and the money they had was from loans. At the hearing, there were two loans mentioned needing to be paid and an unknown reserve at the time. There was a reserve that can be verified by a recent article in The Pioneer Times and Bangor Daily News proving contrary to what was stated as fact. The actual reserve was huge, with $500,000 assigned to projects and $700,000 still in reserve.
A lot of this and other information was posted in public view for residents to see and compare at the Town Office as it was public information. After the Select Board work session on Jan. 29, 2013, preparing articles for the annual town meeting, someone from this group removed the information from the Town Office wall. State Police were contacted, a report filed and the person was contacted by police. The material was returned.
These folks are trying to bully, intimidate and control what information is made available for you to view, so that Ludlow can go back to the way it used to be. I have written this early so you may verify that what I have written is actual fact.
I would suggest you ask the following question. Why is something written at the last minute, not giving you the time to verify that the information being stated is correct? The obvious answer is the writer does not want you to have time to check the facts as it is designed to confuse and mislead you. Typical politics when the facts are not in their favor.
Vote on March 28 and then attend the Annual Town Meeting and stop this madness. Ludlow can’t afford to go back to the way it used to be, mismanaged and secretive, with deals done behind closed doors.
David L. Stevens
Ludlow
