Town Vote Held With No Info

As a long-standing member of the Municipal Building Committee, I would like to offer an apology to the voters of Randolph.

Last Tuesday the selectboard asked you to vote whether to renovate and expand the current building or enter into an agreement with Mr. Sammis to purchase the condominium where the Co-op used to be.

You were asked to vote with absolutely no information. Even the Municipal Building Committee didn't have all the information. You should have known exactly how much each alternative would cost (one set of figures indicates that we could save over $300,000 on one of the options), what each building and its proposed green space would look like, what taxes we would be giving up on the old Co-op building and how much tax would be generated if the current Municipal building were sold.

You should have heard points of view from each Municipal Building Committee member on which alternative they would recommend and why.

Last, but certainly not least, you should have had that information from the selectmen and not in an informational meeting the night before the vote. Even as a member of the Building Committee for eight years I know that I don't yet have all the information necessary to make a good recommendation.

Due to the scheduling of the vote, there wasn't enough time to collect and analyze all of the information necessary for an objective decision. I will offer my time, and I'm sure the other committee members would also, to collect all the necessary data to make an informed recommendation and to present it to the selectboard. I urge the selectboard to take me up on my offer. The vote on Tuesday may have been the correct decision but how will we ever know?

Michael Penrod

Municipal Building Comm.

Randolph