As chairman of the Hatfield Select Board, I write to correct some misstatements appearing in your editorial of Feb. 15 (“Hatfield must fix fiscal mess”).
While admittedly the town is working to correct shortcomings in our finances, the Select Board has in fact provided additional resources to our financial team. This comes in the form of hiring a private consultant, extending the town accountant position from part time to full time, and adding additional secretarial staff to assist both the treasurer and accountant offices.
The state Department of Revenue also is assisting and monitoring the town’s progress as we strive to balance past and current budgets and to continue to improve our future financial situation using recommended procedures and practices from the town’s auditors, our consultant and the Department of Revenue.
Personally, I feel we as a community are moving in the right direction. The truth of the matter is, though, that it is a slow and time-consuming process to get where we need to be, but we will get there.
Brian F. Moriarty
Hatfield
The writer is chairman of the Hatfield Select Board.