I just added up the number of governmental positions listed in the new 2007 town annual report. There are 185 of them, in a town with roughly 900 registered voters. Do we really need that much government in Egremont?

When I mentioned this to a member of one of the town boards a few days ago, she responded that it was nice that so many people volunteered for town positions. Therein lies a big part of the problem. Volunteers are great for charities, churches, etc. But those organizations don't have the legal power to, e.g., tax you, enact rules and regulations, levy fines against you, and in other ways tell you what to do or not do. When boards are populated by whoever volunteers, which is the case with most boards in Egremont, you know what you're going to get: a bunch of people with inadequate expertise and too many ideas about what should be implemented and imposed, ideas that are all too often unproven or worse.

And the problem is made worse by the lack of oversight of the boards by the Selectboard. Not only do our Selectmen fail to ferret out qualified people for the boards (it's so much easier just to advertise the positions and choose whoever walks in the door), but also they pretty much let the boards do whatever they choose. Do you remember any recent instances where the Selectboard criticizes a board member, let alone where one has been replaced?