To the Editor:

Last fall at one of the selectboard meetings on the fate of the pergola I requested an accounting of the road crew’s time and use of the town equipment be placed in this year’s town report so the taxpayers could have some idea of the cost of the pergola.

The town manager responded with a list of reasons why this was not done; time consuming for the road supervisor to keep track of the time, men, and equipment for numerous other projects the town crew do, etc.

The only entity that can operate that way is government.

When I was in business, at times with more employees than the road crew, operating the way it was explained by the town manager I would have been out of business in a very short time. For exact billing purposes it was imperative to know when, what, and where every employee was and what equipment was used every working hour.

I can see no reason why it would be any more difficult for the road supervisor to do the same. Why can’t the taxpayers find out the true cost of the project, or any others?

I have no control over the federal or state government playing big brother. To see it at this level is very upsetting at the least. If the town manager can not manage, even with his own private secretary, maybe it is time to change the type of government or the manager.

John Willard

Wilmington