Dear Editor: 

Articles on Edgecomb’sMay 16 ballot to change the Town Clerk, Tax Collector and Treasurer fromelected to appointed positions; I am referring to these articles as one. 

Any comments here are not to criticize the current or past Select Boards. 

I am opposed to voting yes on these articles. 

It will be up to Maine and the rest of New England, especially the small towns, to hold on to the purest form of town meeting government on which our country was founded. In the majority of towns across   New England Town Clerks are elected. In the 1775 records of Edgecomb, the Town Clerk was elected. Electing has stood the test of time. It has worked. 

The Clerks’ office has historically been independent betweenthe residents and the government, the Selectmen, reflecting the will of the town not the will of the Selectmen. 

If a Clerk is performing poorly for any reason, don’telect them.  

Appointed Clerks may only be removed with just cause. 

If no one runs foroffice, the Board may appoint. 

The vote of the residents is fairer than the appointment ofa three-member Board. 

 If appointed,the residents are losing their direct voice. 

The Clerks have job training of which the Selectmen have insufficient knowledge. 

The Clerks’ flexible hours added to the schedule are more accommodating. 

Clerks go above and beyond.Communication between the Board and Clerk couldoften help with additional tasks that the Board thinks they can only get by appointing.  

A quote from a Massachusetts town debate, “People’s power should never, everhave been taken out of the hands of the many and placed in the hands of a few.” 

Don’t vote yourself out of the right to vote. 

Celebrate our country’s 250thby voting No on Articles 13, 14, 15. 

Claudia Coffin 

Edgecomb Clerk/Treasurer