GilfordGrok

From the Concord Monitor: 

Gilford's selectmen fired Town Administrator Evans Juris yesterday, in apparent response to a letter Juris wrote to the selectmen last week that was critical of the board.

The vote surprised and upset the outgoing chairwoman, Alice Boucher, who said that the other two selectmen defied the advice of the town's lawyer by their move.

Again, tail wagging dog?  It is the Selectmen that are in charge, not the employees and not the outside consultant (for that is what a lawyer is).  The latter may give advice, but it is expected that the Selectmen will make decisions, even the difficult ones.

To say that Connie or Gus "defied" anyone is laughable.  No one in a position of authority is compelled to do anything with advice. A proper motion was made, seconded, discussed, and voted upon.  Both Connie and Gus are to be commended for having the best interest of the Town in the fore front and doing the right thing by making a decision.    I have a feeling that they just were not going to sit on their hands - it was time to make a decision even over Ms. Boucher's desire to lengthen out the process.

Doug, even though speaking about the office of the Town Administrator, gets it right with the role of the Selectmen:

The Town Administrator does, in fact work FOR the Selectmen, not the other way around.

Boucher said her fellow selectmen have placed the town in jeopardy

For those of us not involved in the "inside baseball" game, may I remind our now-former selectman of this - it seems to have been the kickoff of a political bet that ended up badly for those making that bet.  Placing the blame solely on others seems to be an act of silliness (or working in legacy-saving mode).  Especially when you made the bet.  Stop the spin.
 

On another note: 

"He has done an outstanding job," Boucher said. "This is not going to set over well with the townspeople."

I think that as far as the town folks are concerned, this may be a bit premature to pronounce this as a fact.  I think that the jury on Juris is still out....

BTW, I thought that this was REAL rich (and REAL ironic):

"People need to either attend the next selectmen's meeting to voice their concerns or write letters," she said. "I don't know if this can be reversed."

I've made it quite well known that I believe that the Selectmen should be holding their meetings in the evening when most of the taxpayers could attend.  Ms. Boucher adamantly refused to change the meeting time just so that working stiffs like me could not attend. The time that I could attend was the meeting when Ms. Boucher, dare I say, intimidated Connie and Gus to not move the time to evenings, even on a trial basis, until after her "retirement".

Consider the Letter written here for all to see.