The town’s management resistance to answering Freedom of Access Act requests rises in direct relationship to the amount of money being wasted. Nathan Poore, Dan O’Shea, and Barbara Powers have Peter Felmly, Esq. of Drummond Woodsum, on what must be the equivalent of speed dial. Instead of just clicking send to forward information that’s on their hard drives they mislead me about having to search the files for a contract with Business Equipment Unlimited (BEU) that was signed only a few weeks ago. They laughably claim it will take two hours to locate it. How many thousands of tax dollars did these three waste when they refused to cancel the BEU contract for 1.5 cents per copy for one that was .95 cents per copy? Even after the competing company offered to buy out the BEU contract!

Powers claims her office had to create a census of schoolteachers and their annual payroll. This took eight hours according to the bill I received. What company, organization, institution, or nonprofit with a $25 million budget and a $13 million payroll does not maintain a current employee census with payroll? Another local town answered the same question in a few minutes and then resent their answer in a different format that I requested. They charged me zero because they are not (I’m making an effort to be less acerbic here, you choose your own word).

Michael Doyle

Falmouth