Thank you for the fine article in last week’s edition concerning the conspicuous absence of a financial committee in Aquinnah.

As publicly evidenced by the recent chaotic May 10 town meeting, there is a glaring need for a finance committee to provide both financial insight and ongoing oversight to the town. Both are needed.

Without an RFQ process or published specifications for a (needed) new fire truck pumper, the town approved a $450,000 expenditure. Was there thorough advance due diligence? With only 8,600 miles on the garaged 21-year-old vehicle with obsolete pumper parts, was there an investigation into the resale market for a fully reconditioned pumper vehicle?

There are a variety of current models that are refurbished that come with full five-year warranty for engine, drive train, under carriage and system hydraulics. They are about half the cost of a brand new one. Perhaps fire chief Simon Bolin investigated this option, but it would have been nice for him to have some assistance and oversight into this large capital expenditure.

And why would the town have $26,000 in the new fiscal budget for a finance committee that does not even exist today?

At town meeting this year there were no less than 16 budget amendments (up and down) proposed by the town administrator. Among other things, this caused budget-preparation doubt and general voter confusion. Plus it wasted valuable town meeting time.

A finance committee could have eliminated many of the concerns and brought clarity to many others. To hear Mike Hebert talk of not having “qualified” finance committee applicants is disappointing. Where is the requisite outline of qualifications — in some sawdust-filled desk drawer? And by the way, people on a finance committee don’t need to have exclusively financial backgrounds. In fact, it is desirable to have a range of business people, including backgrounds in accounting, perhaps even retired legal minds. You say they can’t be found? I bet they can. We have some outstanding people in our town.

Maybe selectman Jim Newman’s comments about the “nature of Aquinnah” having a difficult time finding people is a byproduct of age-old voter apathy, perhaps resulting from unintended secrecy. Meetings are held and other than attendees nobody can get details of what transpired. There is no vehicle for transparency here — people feel they are in the dark.

A good start to change this and promote involvement would be to have a community-oriented and timely town website. On the current website, up-to-date meeting minutes from the board of selectmen and committees are never published. Why is that?

Jim and Mike wonder where the community involvement is. The above is a good part of the answer.

I know, as a relative newcomer to Aquinnah that I had no luck finding any information about either of the two candidates for selectmen, and only found out about the League of Women Voters forum three days before the event via a friend.

Timely information on the town website and a little promotion can go a long way toward creating community participation and involvement.

If the hue and cry is we don’t have it in our budget, then why not reach out to a tech-savvy student at the regional high school who would like to intern and learn about community workings. He or she could update and post timely website items (meeting minutes, community events, etc.) after editing by department heads.

A finance committee should be elected, not appointed, and ideally should include largely independent-thinking professionals with the ability and authority, when needed, to step in and challenge all financial facets of the town. Members might come from diverse, solid professional backgrounds. Communication must be thoughtful, and to keep honesty and objectivity, members should not have direct ties to the board of selectmen, other town committees or town administrative staff.

Aquinnah is a truly great place to live, but we need to catch up on some needed changes in our town government and the way we do things.

J. MacLeod
Aquinnah