The local news this week has been replete with stories of the resignations of the Town Manager and the director of the Snow Bowl. These resignations have been a long time coming. Those of us who live close to the Snow Bowl and have suffered through the utter incompetence displayed in the Snow Bowl redevelopment are saying – Finally! But the real incompetence and malfeasance in the redevelopment project must be placed at the feet of the Select Board, who through the past four years has treated anyone who dared complain about the situation as little more than a petulant child, meriting little credibility. These comments are not directed at our newest member, Mark Ratner, as he was not a part of this cabal, led by Martin Cates, former chair of the Select Board during this disaster.

Over the past four years, our Select Board led by Martin Cates and Don White has demonstrated an indifference, incompetence and arrogance, that in forty years as a trial lawyer, I have never seen in any adjudicatory body. I well remember the night several summers ago when those of us from Hosmer Pond attended en masse a select board meeting wherein our only question was what and how did the Select Board plan to continue the project. I remember both Don White and Martin Cates stating emphatically that "this project would be completed!" They were not going to stop it for a bunch of malcontents living next to the pond they had polluted. Their responses demonstrated that they had not heard a single word we said. We didn't ask that the project be stopped, we didn't speak against the overall concept of redevelopment, we simply wanted to know, "how" they planned to finish the job without continuing to ruin Hosmer Pond.

The taxpayers of Camden had previously voted for a $2,000,000 bond for the redevelopment and in turn, were promised a lodge. Today, we sit here, several million dollars over budget with no plan to complete the lodge. Where is it? $2,000,000 divided by a population of 5000 comes to about $400 per person in Camden. It appears that that is what it is costing each of us at a minimum to pay for the Select Board's malfeasance. This, of course, does not include the damage to Hosmer Pond, which last year had a half a million cubic foot algae bloom.

During the past four years, I had asked a member of the board and I asked Pat as well – can we get some figures on where we are financially. Pat simply refused. The board member with whom I spoke said the board could not get them from Pat! Huh?? Doesn't she or didn't she work for the board? Now, we are spending another $12,000 for an audit, which had the project been handled correctly and the right reports generated, would have been entirely unnecessary.

Neither Pat Finnegan nor Landon Fake had the background nor experience necessary to oversee as project managers the redevelopment of the Snow Bowl. Construction management is a specialty, it requires a substantial background in construction for a project of this magnitude. We had three separate projects – new lifts, new trails and a new lodge, each of which required specific knowledge and training to bring that part of the project to fruition. Each of these discrete components should have had its own

manager plus an overall project manager. Cutting trails on a mountain is an environmental disaster waiting to happen if not handled property. Our board hired an incompetent to do that work and never required a performance bond. He employed outdated and environmentally unsound techniques and then snuck away under the cover of darkness after the first rain storm turned the mountain and the pond into an ecological disaster. We are still waiting for the DEP's fine on that one!

Does doing things right cost more? Absolutely. But, then we might not be four million dollars behind with a polluted pond at the base of the mountain. Those of us who work in the field of construction told the Select Board repeatedly that they needed this type of management structure, only to be condescendingly ignored. I remember John French saying at one point during a meeting that he had complete confidence in Pat and Landon, two individuals with absolutely no experience in this field. It's one thing to be loyal to your people, but it is quite another when you hold the public trust and then bury your head in the sand, refusing to listen to anyone, as did our Select Board.

I am happy that Landon and Pat are no longer on the scene, but they were assigned jobs they had no competence to do. While they should have recognized that they were in over their heads and insisted that the town hire someone who did know how to do this project, at the base of it all is a Select Board that until recently refused on all levels to do its job, it violated our trust, it breached its fiduciary duties to us and it allowed us to be taken to the tune of $2,000,000. THEY need to write a joint apology to the citizens of this town for having acted so incompetently and arrogantly over the past few years, not just one of them, but all of them, including Martin Cates, even though he is no longer on the board, as it was under his chairmanship that this disaster evolved.

It will be interesting to see where our money went. I don't believe that it was improperly taken by anyone. This appears to be a simple case of incompetent management from top to bottom. Let's hope that in that regard I am right.

Dana Strout lives in Camden