To the Editor:
Yesterday, a pointed question was posed to me as to why I chose to petition for warrant articles in each of the six towns. Although this practice is clearly defined in commonwealth law, affording registered voters the opportunity to insert subjects of concern before public scrutiny, it seems to be considered verboten by locally established protocol and decorum. I researched the practice of petition carefully, and was struck by the opening preamble in a “Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting,” presented by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, William Francis Galvin, who said, “The purest form of democratic governing is practiced in town meeting. In use for over 300 years and still today, it has been proven to be a valuable means for many Massachusetts taxpayers to voice their opinions and directly effect change in their communities. Here in this ancient American assembly, you can make your voice heard as you and your neighbors decide the course of the government closest to you.”
In attempting to respond to the question of petition articles posed to this office, the new motto of the Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” came without hesitation, and struck me immediately as encapsulating my reasoning for seeking petition articles in each of the towns. The research and data my administration has accumulated and presented to your selectmen and finance committees points to a glaring public safety infrastructure and fiscal deficit manufactured, then ignored, by county, state, and local government for decades. From 2010 to the present day, the radio system has been maintained on a shoestring budget with little to no financial support from our state or local municipalities to maintain and manage the system adequately. Due to this financial deficiency, the current E911 Emergency Communication System has been built using substandard equipment intended for business use, not public safety, and is installed in a manner not compliant with industry standards. The current system, providing dispatch to 38 safety-critical agencies, is at high risk of a catastrophic failure and in need of an immediate Islandwide overhaul, creating a major public safety and officer safety threat. These deficiencies were exposed in the recent nor’easters of March 3 and March 14, with massive system power failures across the Island.
Immediate and substantial steps must be taken to bring our communication system up to current standards. The sheriff’s office is currently in the process of applying for a development grant for a three-year, multimillion-dollar capital project, and has negotiated a deal to increase the value of an annual support and incentive grant, through the state E-911 department. But the state wants to see a local fiscal plan for maintaining the system in the future; this endeavor will require a financial commitment, through assessment, from every town serviced by the Regional Emergency Communication Center; a practice which is currently employed by all counties throughout the commonwealth utilizing sheriff’s offices as public safety access points. It is incumbent upon you, the taxpayers of Martha’s Vineyard, to send a clear message to our elected officials, urging them to act accordingly and preserve our good faith in their ability to serve our best interests.
Robert Ogden
Dukes County sheriff
