In response to Mr. Hands' letter to the editor supporting Dottie Fulginiti and Dan Smith

Dear Mr. Hands,

First let me say that I know you are a tireless worker and deeply committed to the Town of Easton and I appreciate what you do for our community.   I would like to respond to your letter in support of Dotti Fulginiti and Dan Smith.

I have had the opportunity, during the course of this campaign, to meet and get to know both of these candidates.  They both seem dedicated, driven, bright and certainly want the best for our community, as we all do.  In proffering a letter of support for these candidates you chose to denigrate me in the process.  This does a great disservice to these candidates.  All of the candidates in this election have remained positive and optimistic throughout this process.  Each has enough merits to stand on their own without the negativity you chose bring into the discussion.

Now I would like to talk about the facts. You comment that I have a “just say no to everything” ideology.  You could not be more wrong.  I have taken the time to review the Annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting warrant articles from 2010 to the present, my entire time on Finance Committee (FINCOM).  I am sure you will find this surprising but FINCOM has voted to either recommend or not take a position on 96.5% of the articles and taken a do not recommend position on 3.5% of the votes.  In addition FINCOM has voted with the Board of Selectmen on 98% of the votes.  That is not to say the FINCOM did not request some changes to articles to get to that point.  Surely we have.  That is FINCOMS’ role. We are able to negotiate changes to articles in order to still meet the needs of the community, while making sure that it is done in a fiscally responsible way.

You also make a comment in your letter regarding the Shovel Shops:  “one candidate led the Finance Committee to a better deal for Easton”.  Again only a portion of your statement is correct.  I have certainly discussed the deal at great length, but at the time it occurred, Donna Abelli was the chair of FINCOM.  I have always given Donna the credit for leading that charge.   You state “the other members worked hard to study the financials and present them objectively” while I “consistently voted no at every turn”.  Again this is not a statement of fact.  We all worked diligently on the financials related to that project. We spent hours pulling together numbers, pouring over spreadsheets and attending meetings with all the parties involved. We all presented our findings objectively. Every presentation we made was factual in nature and intended to inform the taxpayers of Easton. There was a great deal of detailed analysis completed on that project and in the end, every decision made by FINCOM with respect to Shovel Shops was unanimous.

In closing I would like to thank all of the candidates for keeping it “above the fray”.  We all know the right way to campaign and what is important for people to hear in order to cast their votes on April 30^th.  I have thoroughly enjoyed campaigning with each of you and look forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Regards,

Carol Nestler