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To the editor:
Here we go again with another memorandum from the County Commissioners.
Accusations of dishonesty are easy to throw around, especially when faced with inconvenient truths. But let's not forget that differing opinions don't equate to deception. I remain committed to honest discourse with focus on substance of issues at hand rather than baseless labels. My aim has always been to offer a full and fair perspective and representation of the facts.
Clearly there are at least two sides to the nursing home story, Both with the same ending. The people of Strafford County (SC) are out more than $17 million dollars with little to show for it and no real answers to our
nursing home dilemma.
The Commissioners oversee ALL County business, yet deny responsibility for this expensive failure. Additionally, let's not forget we could have had a new nursing home for 1/3 of the cost of the one
the Commissioners proposed if they had only told us other options existed. They did not! They chose to hide that from us too.
This nursing home project has been going on since April 2022. We had a $15.3 million forgivable loan by GOFERR, a state agency. They, like the delegation, were kept in the dark. When GOFERR finally got the information from SC staff showing that they could not perform as promised, the loan was
canceled. PERIOD!
I am including another example of questionable actions by the County. This SC spreadsheet, provided to GOFERR to get the loan, details the originally proposed New Nursing Home project spending by the County. The far right column shows labor costs to three County employees (County Administrator, Population Health Consultant, and Clerk of the Works) and the date of
payment as follows:
2022 Quarter 2 $14k
2022 Quarter 3 $14k
2022 Quarter 4 $14k
2023 Quarter 1 $14K
2023 Quarter 2 $22k
2023 Quarter 3 $22k
2023 Quarter 4 $22k
Total Strafford County Employee Labor Cost 2022-23 $122k
Yet, when I asked to review the county employee pay invoices for that time period,I was told repeatedly that County employees were NOT paid additional monies for their work on the new nursing home project during that time. Is the spreadsheet and $122k in payments, just another fabrication of the County that eventually caught up with them? Is the entire spreadsheet meaningless?
The fact that no one at the County got paid begs the question, Who then, was the controller/clerk of the works looking out for the County while $1.9 million in project invoices was submitted and paid?
I have publicly asked for an investigation that has fallen on deaf ears with denial then silence as the answer. If the Commissioners are afraid of an investigation, then how about a Performance Audit on the nursing home
project. Both are allowed by law and only require a delegation vote of approval and small amount of funding. The people of SC deserve answers that only one of the above can bring.
Lastly, as to the Commissioners name calling. if I were truly that adept at half truths and deceit, I could make a lot of money writing spy novels, not sharing the issues that plague the county. But let me assure the people of Strafford County my aim is to keep honest dialogue going until the truth comes out. Answers are needed and deserved, not baseless accusations and name calling. Again, If I am lying as the Commissioners claim. PROVE IT!
As my uncle used to say "Talk is cheap. It takes money to buy rum."
- Cliff Newton,
State Rep Strafford 6
Rochester
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