BudCom Letter Lashes Out at Selectmen, Lack of Casino Involvement

The Salem Budget Committee is not happy with the way they have been portrayed at Board of Selectmen meetings, as evidenced in a letter drafted on behalf of the committee and read last night by Chairman Russell Frydryck.

A good portion of the letter specifically targets Selectman Stephen Campbell, who serves as the Selectmen representative to the Budget Committee.

While he is named only by his title as representative in the letter, he is specifically criticized for making "several derogatory statements" in recent meetings.

"We don't meet during the summer, we don't ask many questions ('We are the least inquisitive board he has ever seen!'"), we don't challenge people enough, etc.," reads the letter. "The first is an outright lie; the rest is opinion tainted by a generally negative point of view."

The letter goes on to criticize Selectman Chairman Pat Hargreaves for not stopping Campbell's attacks.

"All we seek is fairness," the last paragraph reads. "Please put a stop to the negativity. We had one disagreement over your budget; we might have compromised if you had offered one. All we received was 'It is our (BOS) budget; we are going to take it (the money we put in) back out!' There has been too much tension this year. We should be working together."

The letter also slams Campbell for his Budget Committee summaries delivered on Mondays, which the letter says have never been accurate.

The letter also discusses the committee's absence on the recently approved Casino Advisory Committee.

Nine members will serve on the casino committee, six of which will be non-elected citizens. Filling out the seats will be Campbell, a still unkown Salem School Board member and either state Sen. Chuck Morse (R-Salem) or a representative of his choosing.

The letter says that the rationale made by Hargreaves for excluding Budget Committee participation was the lack of summer meetings.

"Where did he get this information?" asks the letter. "We meet in June (summer) and August (summer). We take July (we could meet with this committee) off to vacation with our families. We are volunteers. We are entitled to one month without a meeting."

Despite the argument in the letter, the Selectmen voted 3-2 against a motion made by Selectman Mike Lyons to add both a BudCom member and an extra citizen.

Although he was criticized in the letter, Campbell didn't let up in slamming the committee before offering his dissenting vote along with Hargreaves and Selectman Everett McBride, Jr.

"They show very little interest in revenue," he said. "They seem to think their process as a Budget Committee has to do with expenses. This subcommittee is to look at the revenue."

McBride argued against the added size of the committee that two extra members would create, saying that the Charter Commission had 13 members and "didn't get anything done."

As of now, Salem has over 20 citizen applicants for the casino committee.