Strange happenings in Stoddard, NH these days.
Last week, on Thursday, July 21, the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) voted 5-0 for a re-hearing of the AT&T cell tower request, which had been approved 3-2 on May 25. (See minutes of this meeting here --they're very strange....)
Then, on Friday, it was learned that all three ZBA members who had voted in AT&T's favor (chairman Bev Power along with Maureen Meyer, and Richard Betz) had submitted their resignations to the Selectmen of Stoddard, leaving only Fred and Ruth Ward, who voted against AT&T's request for a cell tower on Melville Hill, which stands high over the pristine lake community of Granite Lake.
Yesterday it was discovered that not only had Power, Meyer, and Betz resigned, but the three alternate ZBA members as well. Which makes some of us wonder what's going on....
Why did all six resign? Was this a coordinated effort? Led by whom--the ZBA chair Bev Power? What are the motives here? Fear of being sued by both AT&T and the Granite Lake cell tower protestors?
Last night the Stoddard Selectmen met to discuss these strange goings-on. What's to be done when three ZBA members and three alternate members submit their resignations and a re-hearing of the AT&T petition is scheduled for September 1?
Well, they hadn't a clue. All three Selectmen decided to check in as soon as possible with their attorney, Sam Bradley.
Problem is: Bradley has been cited for incompetence in his recommendations to the ZBA and the resulting decision.
We wait, watch, and simply wonder at the debacle this whole exercise in local government has become......
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