Reader demands accountability for K of C hall ‘disaster’

Dear Editor:

I waited this past week to see if the disaster at the former Knights of Columbus building would be reported on to the citizens who have paid $425,000 for this “pig in a poke.” Having received from impeccable sources the news that someone turned off the heat there, resulting in the pipes freezing, breaking, and spewing water over the place, I ask: Did this have to happen? Is it not the responsibility of the town manager and DPW to assume proper stewardship for this senior center, which will require $1.5 to $2.5 million to bring up to code or enlarge?

Why were we not told this at town meeting last year when the range of expenditures we citizens would have to pay was known from the building inspection? Was it disingenuous of the selectmen to claim that we could easily afford the purchase price, knowing that it would cost three times more to repair it? I am so tired of the wiggle words used by these politicians to excuse their chicanery.

Was it also disingenuous for the heat in this building to be turned off/down, or for the building to be so poorly protected that the plumbing was ruined by the weather? Was it expected that the insurance would provide enough money to not only fix the pipes but the other problems as well? Is this not similar to the infamous “flood” when we citizens paid for a refurbishment of the library, only to have the building flooded the day the building was first reopened for business?

Even if insurance covers these “accidents,” human error is behind them. I can’t imagine any insurance company paying for damage if it can be shown that normal precautions were not taken.

And yet we never seem to demand accountability. We act as peasants, powerless to do anything but believe the deliberate ambiguities of the town government, people we voted into power. Were we not supposed to know about this freezing of the pipes? (The service trucks at that building were quite obvious.) Is it true that mold is growing on the walls there? We citizens have a right to expect that damage to town property be described and explained as soon as it happens.

As disgusted as I am by both the failure to give full disclosure on the hidden costs of the proposed senior center and the indifference to preventing damage to the same structure, I will be loathe to vote more funds, even though I am a senior and will profit from using such facilities.

Will someone in the town government violate this obvious taboo about informing us citizens about town problems that are a result of their neglect? What is the truth?

Alice C. Brown

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=18802