Dateline: Mar. 9, 2024

To the residents of the Town of Allenstown:

Those of us who have worked in the Allenstown Town Clerk/Tax Collector's office over the past year would like to give the people of Allenstown a brief look at why we think there has been such turn-over in the office. The opinions offered by town officials stating that it is "a personnel issue" or simply that "all the staff resigned" does not adequately describe the situation nor does it give Allenstown citizens and voters the opportunity to help remedy the issues which have led to the lack of important services that are deserved by the public.

It has been explained by the Board of Selectmen (BOS) that it is difficult to fill the role because the position must be occupied by a resident of Allenstown. It is true that the town clerk must be a resident of the town. However, there has not been a recruiting issue for this position as much as a retention issue. Unless and until the issues below are addressed by town leadership--the BOS and Town Administrator--the position remains at high risk for frequent turn-over. The following are three major contributing factors as recent incumbents experienced them working within the office.

First: The office is understaffed. The workload for the expanding town population has grown, and the town clerk-tax collector's office needs a full-time deputy clerk. The BOS has not supported the deputy position as full time, despite repeated demonstrations of the need. As such, the office has been staffed with part-timers which means it takes longer for everyone to learn the job. This is a disservice to residents. The deputy position is also designed to take over from the clerk, should the clerk be absent or leave, allowing for seamless operation of the office. For this to happen, the deputy needs equivalent training and in-office time.

Second: Greater coordination between the various departments of the town is sorely needed. All the employees working in the town hall (clerk's office and finance department) have less than two years' experience working for the town. They have limited working knowledge of each other's responsibilities and how to work cohesively to get the job done. While the clerk's position is elected and answers to the voters, the coordination and level of cooperation between employees needs the presence and support of town leadership to promote communication and understanding, to ensure efficient and effective operations.

Third: The computer system in the clerk's office is very unreliable. Hardware and software are both old and do not work properly on a daily basis. Internet connection, connection to the server, and the overall slow computer system makes for unnecessary problems for clerk staff and citizens alike.

In summary, if these items are not addressed, it is the belief of those who have most recently worked in the office and experienced the difficulties associated with the identified issues, that the position of Town Clerk / Tax Collector remains vulnerable to turn-over with the potential disruption to resident services that can entail.

Former Town Clerk / Tax Collector, Brittany Littlefield
Former Deputy Town Clerk / Tax Collector, Diane Adinolfo
Former Assistant Town Clerk / Tax Collector, Judy Silva
March 1, 2024

What You Can Do

Contact the Selectmen and urge them to take the appropriate action to correct the employee turnover and its concomitant re-training expenses, the support issues, and the disruption of town services.