To the editor:

If you are one of the Essex voters who has attended numerous town meetings over the last 10 years and voted repeatedly to preserve the 10 acres of town-owned waterfront at Conomo Point for public use, you need to attend the Special Town Meeting on Nov. 9.

If you are an Essex voter who thinks that it is ridiculous for a community that prides itself on its shipbuilding history, its clamming industry and the Essex River in general to consider selling part or all of its only significant waterfront property, you need to come to Special Town Meeting on Monday night.

In May 1999, Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to retain all town-owned land north of Robbins Island Road for public use. This vote came after a five-year study by the Town Meeting-appointed Conomo Point Planning Committee recommended the town keep the waterfront and sell the developed land not necessary for future public access. The committee was Town Meeting-appointed because Town Meeting determined in 1994 that prior, selectmen-appointed committees were biased in favor of the land tenants at Conomo Point and therefore created a Town Meeting-appointed committee whose members must have "no direct financial interest at Conomo Point."

In recent years, it's become clear that current selectmen disagree with the 1999 vote and has supported articles that would undermine or overturn the preservation of the town's waterfront. In 2007, it supported an article that would have authorized selectmen to seek special legislation that would have allowed them to sell any properties at Conomo Point in any manner they saw fit. This article failed.

While, in 2008, they supported the article, which authorized the subdivision project for upland lots, which the committee is working on in keeping with the 1999 committee recommendation, in May 2009, they introduced an article to enter mediation with the entire tenant group at Conomo, thereby jeopardizing the future of the town's waterfront once again. This article also failed.

Throughout this time period, selectmen have attempted to convince voters the town would be in trouble with the Department of Environmental Protection for violating our court-ordered agreement to clean up failed septic systems at Conomo Point if we did not support their proposals. In fact, the state DEP accepted the town votes of 1999 and simply required that the town follow through on those votes in keeping with the "Conomo Point Plan" which is an amendment to the court order.

All the plan requires is the timely notification and eviction of the tenants when the leases expire in 2011. Selectmen have attempted to delay the notification of the tenants as required and in a recent letter to the DEP have suggested that future Town Meeting votes could alter the town's plans for its waterfront.

The warrant for Monday night includes an article to spend $25,000 to fund a "recreational and residential planning study for the land north of Robbins Island Road." The key word is "residential." Selectmen want you to pay for a consultant whom they will direct to convince you that the town does not need or cannot afford all the land north of Robbins Island Road.

I urge you all to attend this meeting and vote down this last attempt to undermine the town's will. There is no need to develop the plan for the town's waterfront now. When the leases expire, the tenants are gone and no longer interfering with the town's deliberations, and the residents of Essex will feel free to honestly share their desires for facilities at Conomo without fear of antagonizing others.

If we sell the lots in the field after 2011, we will have money to implement the plan subsequently developed. We don't need to rush this plan while embroiled in a cauldron of conflicting agendas.

If you feel I am being unfair to selectmen, consider this: In May, they introduced an amendment to the bylaw which authorizes the Conomo Point Planning Committee. Citing process problems due to poor attendance by some members, they sought the power to fill vacancies or remove members who missed several meetings in a row and to appoint replacements until the next Town Meeting.

Several of us argued that, with a 12-member committee and at least two Town Meetings a year, the authority to appoint should remain with Town Meeting, and selectmen should have the opportunity to stack the committee with their supporters. However, their passionate pleas for good process convinced the majority and the amendment passed. Committee Chairman Rolf Madsen resigned upon being elected moderator the very next week.

Clearly, the committee's work is not that important unless selectmen can appoint its members. Selectmen are waiting for the bylaw to be approved so that they can appoint two more allies to the committee, knowing that Town Meeting in May will be too civilized to oust their appointees.

If you are as concerned by this as I am, you better get to this meeting — and let them know that you care.

Edward T. Neal

Western Avenue, Essex