Neal Fox Is Right On Town Hall

Neal Fox has been put in the position of Solomon many times in his capacity as selectman for the Town of Bethel, and has always tried very hard to make difficult situations palatable to both sides. He has been able to set aside personal preferences in the pursuit of neutral and fair decisions.

As regards to the town hall issue, Mr. Hemond condemns Mr. Fox for lack of leadership, when one should praise Mr. Fox for his willingness to absorb the concerns of all sides, and for tailoring the policy that is now in place, of incremental restoration of the town hall.

Not everyone in Bethel supports spending taxpayer money on restoration of this historical building. Many would rather see any extra money raised by taxes to be applied to the roads in Bethel. The townspeople of Bethel have done without the services of the town hall for nearly 50 years, but they do travel their roads every day and those roads need upgrading.

A selectboard should act like a well trained triage team and prioritize projects and issues according to their importance. Allocating more money to the town hall project is not something that the taxpayers can afford, not when our school taxes are increasing and our roads need attention.

Neal Fox has served our town well as he realizes that there are some well-to-do residents and a large percentage who do not fall into that category and he and his board members act accordingly in keeping Bethel’s taxes as low as possible for all concerned.

Neal Fox has no magical solutions to solving Bethel’s problems, but then again, neither does Chris Hemond.

Carol DeFreitas

Bethel

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