by Ed Naile

What the Hell is Going on in Bradford?

This small town is barely over the Ghislaine Maxwell extravaganza and two members of the Select Board quit one week after a Fire Dept. Captain was arrested for sexual assault.

Let’s just deal with the selectmen for now.

I read the exit letter one sent to a local paper. Check it out.

“Dear Members of the Board and Bradford Townspeople:

My initial desire to run for Select Board was primarily based on a strong belief and confidence that I had a unique vision to offer, and could bring a good deal of my resources to bear in making Bradford an even better and rewarding place in which to live and thrive.”

Bingo! There is the problem right in the first paragraph.

Selectmen do not have a “vision” for a municipality. If you are full of “vision” you belong on the Planning Board’s Master Plan Committee.

Here is what NH selectmen are required to do:

Selectmen Section 41:8
41:8 Election and Duties. – Every town, at the annual meeting, shall choose, by ballot, one selectman to hold office for 3 years. The selectmen shall manage the prudential affairs of the town and perform the duties by law prescribed. A majority of the selectmen shall be competent in all cases.

Source. RS 34:2. CS 36:2. GS 37:2. GL 40:2. PS 43:5. 1921, 9:1; 17:1. PL 47:12. RL 59:11.

“The selectmen shall manage the prudential affairs of the town and perform the duties by law prescribed.”

There is no statutory definition of “vision” in the RSAs.

I was a selectman for three years in one of NH’s most corrupt towns and never had time for “visions.”

Here is the list of some things a selectman is required or prescribed to do. It is impressive:

To me it looks like this third selectman, Marlene Freyler, a local woman, who is supposedly the reason the two Board members quit, may in fact have performed a “prudent” action to save the Town from the non-statutory visions of at least one of the former selectmen.