Dear Editor,
I am totally enraged! The citizens of this town have made their feelings known to the Selectboard for at least five years (since the “holy five” purchased Bill’s Country Store), regarding the fact that we did not want to fund the Chamber/KPAA in any way. And every year the same group comes back with some new cockamamy scheme to get our town’s money and so far we have been able to prevent them.
Now they come back again and it slides right through with no hearings, no citizens’ input.
Who are the Selectboard and our town manager working for? Certainly not the citizens of the town. After all, the KPAA [Killington-Pico Area Association] board consists of two Killington Resort officers and Seth Webb, who seems to care more about the resort than the functioning of the town. And the president of the KPAA has not even kept his business open for the summer in years and to boot does not even live in the town of Killington. In other words, out of the six board members of KPAA, only two live in Killington.
This surely has to be a joke or a bad dream.
Is this really for the benefit of the town or the resort? I understand that KPAA membership encompasses more than just Killington, which concerns me even more, considering they will be making decisions about Killington taxpayers’ money.
Economic development means more than just putting money in the restaurants’ and inns’ pockets; it means developing more infrastructure. Having a group making decisions regarding town money that does not include citizen input is unconscionable! (I do not consider Town Manager Seth Webb to be a neutral party, in the least!)
In addition, the decision for Amy Morrison to work full time for KPAA while the town pays her salary is surely a dangerous precedent. Morrison has helped the town library and Rec. Commission with the Summer Concert Series and other events. Her help has been important in coordinating some events between the town departments and the businesses, which is very recent.
I feel that eliminating her totally from the town, in addition to eliminating a citizen voice in the decision-making, will just reinforce the fact that there are two Killingtons: the Access Road and North Sherburne. And it seems the two will never be reconciled.
An issue of this magnitude should, at the very least, have had open hearings for the citizens to provide input before a decision of such importance was made. First, the Selectboard gives away decision-making to the KPAA and second, they pay for their staff.
What next?
Diane Scappaticci Rosenblum, Killington
