LETTER: Select Board Is Ignoring The Will Of The People & The Results Of The Special Town Meeting To Save The Buzzell

Dear Editor,

People should watch the Selectboard meeting from Jan. 12, 2026 regarding the former Buzzell Senior Center. It is hard to watch. I know, I was there. Only one word can describe it, sad. Your Selectboard and the Town Manager basically said they do not want to, so will not honor the vote taken at the Special Town Meeting to fund and save the Buzzell. They are doing everything within their power to not honor that vote. Some claimed the vote did not represent the town. Although we all know if the votes failed to save the building were at the level to save it by the same margin it would have been demolished the next day.

Special Town Meeting took 2 actions. Article 1 save the building passed 173 to 46 – 80% of vote. Article 2 fund the rehab passed 146- 49 – 75% of the vote. The [Select board] vote to tear it was down 3 in favor 1 opposed. But yet for some reason the Selectboard feels they represent the town more than Town Meeting. I guess they are the elitist dictators that think they have more power than the people.

They stand up before every meeting and mouth the words of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag then dump on the democracy and disrespect all those who have fought to protect the democracy and promote the will of the people. Somehow they have a misguided idea in their mind they are the elite,, that they represent the will of the people, that town meeting does not, and that we, the people, are not capable of representing ourselves and making the right decisions at Town Meeting. I find it so disturbing that there is an attack on our democracy on the people on all fronts and all levels in this country. Congress passes laws and budgets on the federal level and the Executive Branch ignores them and dismantles them. On the state level 72% of the people voted to audit the legislature and that branch has ignored that vote, refuses to comply, and the AG’s will not enforce it against the will of the people. And then you have our Selectboard doing exactly the same thing with building that he people want to preserve.

Message to the Selectboard: Stop the act pretending to be doing the right thing while undermining the will of the people behind the scenes. We are not stupid. Do not insult our intelligence. You do not have more power than the law. Town Meeting passed a law and budgeted money to preserve the Buzzell. Put on your big girl and boy pants, do your job, put your personal opinions aside, and do the work of the people you took an oath to do. Show respect. Don’t make the Pledge of Allegiance just an act of going through the motions. You either believe in democracy or you don’t.

Respectfully,
Suzanne Sullivan