Net result: Error charged to selectmen

There is no question in our mind that Milton selectmen should be charged with an error in their sudden closure of the Town Beach Field to Nute baseball teams last month.

From anecdotal accounts of townspeople, even selectmen, themselves, foul balls have been plopping onto the pavement of White Mountain Highway since time began, yet town leaders decided halfway through the current high school baseball season the situation was now untenable.

So after decades of knowing it was a problem, they decided to act. Then, after an incredible uproar from the school, parents of players and athletes, they ran around like Keystone Cops trying to line up contractors and a netting manufacturer to fix the problem.

Selectman Bob Bridges, who ironically took the brunt of abuse from residents at last week’s selectmen’s meeting, should be lauded for hours he put in putting the plan together.

But that doesn’t let selectmen off the hook by any means. By having to come up with a fix in helter skelter fashion, they likely wasted some taxpayer money. Everyone knows when you need something done yesterday it costs more.

Or if you need it done on the weekend. We recall taking our dog, Princess, down to Milton Veterinary Clinic with porcupine quills a few years ago during the week. It was probably a $150 to get her “fixed up.” A year later she did it again on a Saturday and she had to go down to some emergency vet place in Portsmouth. This time it was $500.

Well, the post hole diggers working Friday and Saturday, we were told by Bridges, would require time and a half because they were working overtime. Just like Princess, we got “stuck” with the bill. That’s your money, by the way.

True, selectmen got a lot of hardware donated to the town to make this impromptu plan cost less, but why wouldn’t you think they’d have gotten the same help if they’d done the task with a little more forethought and a less frenzied pace.

If selectmen had started the process of fixing the netting at the end of the spring baseball season last year, the project could’ve gone out to bid, donations could’ve been accepted and taxpayers would almost certainly have saved some money.

Even more vexing is the town’s arrogance with which they closed the field, having a meeting to discuss their options on April 23 without inviting anyone from the school. That night they decided to shut the field immediately until the netting was fixed.

The Nute Athletic Director was told by a custodian four hours before the game on April 24 that he’d heard the field had been closed. The game was at home against Pittsfield. Any later and the Pittsfield team could’ve been en route.

This is no way to run a railroad, or a town.

If selectmen are having a meeting that impacts an entity or person in such a precipitous and profound way, they should be notified of the meeting and invited to attend.

The NFL adds rules every year to make the game safer. Surely selectmen can add this rule to make town government fairer and more responsive to our needs.

You think Princess and selectmen will learn from their mistakes?

We can only hope.                                                                                                           - HT