Selectmen's Meeting

Last week's selectmen's meeting was more cordial than the first one attended by new selectman Bruce Cumsky. The only controversy was created by me, when I suggested the selectboard - not the library committee - should approve expenditures under the library architectural contract. All three selectmen disagreed. One said that would be micromanaging. The other two believe that the library committee has spending power.

I'm not sure what the law is (I intend to research it), but as a matter of policy, I believe what town boards and committees do is subject to control by the selectboard, i.e., the buck stops there, not at the committee level. And I think that's particularly true when it comes to expenditures. I'd have to think twice about voting for budget items at the annual town meeting if I knew that the money would be spent by some committee without prior approval by the selectboard. What do you think?