Peru citizen reacts to select board issues

To the Editor:

Peru citizens -- Correspondence found from MMA at the end of June 2012 clearly shows that Kathy Hussey has stayed in the position of select person to the board for the Town of Peru unethically.

This correspondence, dated April 24-26, 2012, was obviously withheld from the people. It clearly states that if the board wanted to protect the employees who were holding an elected position at that time, then the wording would need to be changed. Otherwise, the ordinance would apply to them if it passed. It did pass and Mrs. Hussey remains in two positions which is in direct violation of the ordinance.

Many rumors and misinformation in the media have caused citizens to turn on each other. The citizens who've been working "for the people" have been publically accused of having a vendetta: holding secret meetings, conspiring, plus they have been called liars, gold diggers, bullies and horrible monsters.

The truth is, the lies and misinformation only come from the town office itself!

If Mrs. Hussey had just stepped down, no problem would exist! She didn't and three out of five of the select board have basically squelched the will of the people by letting her stay. Wake up Peru. This is a clear invasion of your democratic rights.

We have a board running our town as a dictatorship. They need to be stopped! Now, all five selectmen are up for a recall and the public hearing they held for it was probably as illegal as anything else they have done.

The article in the daily paper on Feb. 20 only focused on the angry citizens and not on what the actual outcome was from the meeting on Feb. 19. The citizens are angry because they are sick and tired of never getting answers. The board majority continually acts in their best interest and not for the good of the town.

The public hearing on Feb. 11 was a joke. People left, as well as two selectmen, because the moderator clearly stated she would not direct any questions to the select people. At the select meeting on Feb. 19, two of the selectmen made it clear that the person responsible for the fiasco on Feb. 11 was in the wrong and overstepped their bounds by going over the board.

Mr. Powell and Mr. Ferland were not informed of the format or that they needed prepared statements to read for the people. They were only prepared to answer questions. They were just as surprised by the meeting's format as the citizens were.

Peru has never had an outside moderator. For public meetings/hearings, we elect our own moderator.

Warren Oldham,

Peru