I’m writing to provide additional information to that included in the recent article regarding the Grafton County Commissioners’ proposed budget (“Officials propose budget hike,” May 24). There are two main areas of investment that the commissioners are recommending. The first has to do with new positions and the second with infrastructure.
Grafton County shares the effects of a national nursing shortage with the nine other New Hampshire counties, as well as with public and private facilities. The commissioners are recommending the hiring of two mid-level unit managers to oversee day-to-day operations in order to free up the director of nursing to focus on administrative and leadership duties. The commissioners hope this change will enhance departmental cohesion and teamwork and improve recruitment and retention.
A second area of need has to do with infrastructure. There are segments of the county complex that are in dire need of paving. Paving was last done in 2004, and the current request has been put off for three years. The proverbial “kicking of the can down the road” only exacerbates the problem and causes further degradation, which, in addition to inflation, only increases the cost to taxpayers when the paving is finally done.
Another investment involves upgrading the building automation system. The county’s buildings connect with an automated system that interfaces with local controls to regulate heating, cooling and ventilation. Our current system, dated to 2003, has many component parts that are now obsolete. Having to replace these parts in the event of failure would increase costs and prevent the county from adequately vetting products available on the market.
This budget season presented challenges that result from an aging infrastructure and from staffing challenges. Consulting with our department heads, we’ve proposed the current budget in order to ensure the continued quality of county services.
WENDY PIPER
Enfield
The writer serves as a Grafton County commissioner.
Once again, President Donald Trump has returned from a trip abroad having mortified American citizens with his boorish behavior.
Before he even reached London on the first leg of the trip, Trump tweeted a slew of snide, petty remarks about its mayor.
After being helicoptered to Buckingham Palace, rather than drive in a typical motorcade (in order to avoid the huge crowds of protesters against his visit), Trump then lied by stating that he saw crowds of people cheering him and waving flags. The few protesters were “brought in” and were “fake news,” in his words.
On to Ireland, where Trump ignorantly praised the Irish prime minister for the “border and wall” with Northern Ireland, and off to the D-Day memorial service in Normandy, where he bragged about making its participants, including World War II veterans in their 90s, wait while he had an interview with the loathsome Fox News host Laura Ingraham in front of a backdrop of the cemetery of fallen U.S. soldiers.
During this interview, Trump insulted war hero Robert Mueller and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, among other notable Americans.
Throw in an interview with Brit Piers Morgan, in which Trump blithely denied the reality of climate change once again.
How could more months of living under this corrupt, repulsive president be less odious than the so-called trauma of an impeachment trial he so obviously deserves?
ALICE MORRISON
Newbury, Vt.
I was grateful for being present at the retirement party of my longtime primary care physician, Dr. Ernst Oidtmann.
It became clear that the faith I had put into his expertise, judgment and sympathy had been shared by many others in the area. I wish him well.
BRADFORD G. JOHNSTON
Bradford, Vt.