SELECTMEN VS. GELD KERFUFLE: 'Post-Mortem' Report is Just a Draft

Groton Electric Light Department [GELD] recently voted to reduce its Payment In-lieu of Taxes [PILOT] to the town by $15,000 for fiscal year 2013 as both a form of protest for the cost, complexity, and arbitrary nature of the permitting process for its new proposed building on Station Avenue, and to try to recoup some of what GELD considers excessive costs of the permitting process. It is important to note that to balance this reduction GELD gave the schools an unsolicited $100,000 for their technology initiative.

At the request of the Board of Selectmen and Electric Light Commissioners, Kevin Kelly, General Manager of the Groton Electric Light Department, and Town Manager Mark Haddad were asked to perform a "post-mortem" study to determine what happened during that process, to evaluate its fairness and to seek ways to improve the process.

Subsequent to a meeting of all parties, Mr. Haddad posted a report on the town website; however, the facts, interpretations and conclusions presented in this report are entirely his own. The report has not been vetted by any of the other parties including the Planning Board, the Conservation Commission, GELD and Selectmen. Therefore, the report should be considered a 'draft', concedes Mr. Haddad, who says he had no choice but to make his draft document available to the public because, "once I gave it to the Planning Board, the Conservation Commission, the Electric Light Department and Selectmen it became part of the public record."

Mr. Haddad stated that in his view, "The report is a fair and accurate description of what happened during the permitting process," but he acknowledges that other committees' interpretations of the facts and conclusions outlined in his report may differ from his views.

Selectman Cunningham has been quoted in local media as saying that the report was "a fair assessment that identified short comings on both sides." However, based on Mr. Haddad's comments, it seems premature to conclude that the draft report is a 'fair assessment' until it has been openly evaluated and commented on by all parties.

This post-mortem draft report will be discussed, commented on and evaluated at the August 12 Selectmen's meeting. A PDF of Mr. Haddad's draft can be viewed in its entirety and retrieved from the town of Groton website. See direct link to this report along with this story on the Groton Herald website at www.grotonherald.com