Thank you for your extensive coverage of the shortfalls and challenges of the town of Panton (Oct. 24). The headline could have been “How to Dismantle Democracy” in a small town.

We have been led recently by a selectboard chair that is a combination of arrogance and ego. The exiting town clerk put it best when she said there was a “lack of participation in local government by residents.” Who would want to work in a town led by a bully?

What has he done? First, he orchestrated the end of the 200-year tradition of town meeting. Which concentrated decision making in a three-member selectboard. Then he handpicked two sycophants as selectboard members. We didn’t run deficits, as we do now, when we had town meeting.

Then he canceled the position of internal auditor, one of the guardrails that provides a check and balance on town spending. Combined with a town treasurer, who by her own admission is not capable of managing the financial records, you have the mess we are in now. The financial records are so bad the external auditors refuse to perform an audit. The town has had to hire an accountant, at additional expense, to get the books in sufficient order so an audit can be conducted. Sound crazy? It is.

This isn’t the first time the current chair of the selectboard got caught misappropriating town funds. I know, I am a former internal auditor. Whether it is misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office, Howard Hall should resign. He is the reason the town is in this mess.

Douglas Dows, former selectman

Panton