Residents were ‘duped’ into buying K of C building

By Canton Citizen

Editor’s note: Selectmen Chairman Bob Burr disputed the following assertions in a recent interview. He stated that the risks of purchasing the K of C building, although minimal to the town, were articulated to residents at annual town meeting and that divestiture of the property “had always been an option” if renovations were deemed to be too costly.

Dear Editor:

I have bought and sold four houses in my lifetime. For each, I had a housing inspection, which saved me nine severe mistakes from other houses I had contracts on: a broken load-bearing timber, overrun septic tank, crack in the foundation, termites, rotten roof, etc. By law, you are supposed to be told by the owner about these things, but you would have to sue and collect, only if you can prove that he knew about them. I don’t believe there was collusion involved when the Knights of Columbus sold its hall to the town of Canton for a new senior center, but something much worse.

At town meeting, we were led astray by our town governors. We were told we could buy the K of C meeting house for $425,000. We are now told it will cost over $1.5 million to bring it up to code. Caveat emptor: We citizens of Canton should never have trusted this clique. We should have questioned, “Did you have a housing inspection? What did it show we would have to fix?” No, we allowed them to pull a fast one on us, once again.

Now, one of the selectmen has the shamefaced grace to say, “I have two buyers who would take it off our hands for what we paid for it, essentially.” Although I am one of those seniors who years ago were so disappointed when the voters turned down a new senior center, I would now say, “Then do it. We were duped into buying this thing.”

I understand there was a building inspection. If that is true, then the cost to open it to the senior citizens was known at town meeting. Why else weren’t we told? Let’s start all over.

For the record, had the selectmen been more forthcoming about the true cost, I would have been okay with it — provided the building contracts went to Canton residents. We have a skilled labor force right here, from architects to plumbers. But no, we were considered too ignorant to be able to have been given the truth.

In April we will have a local town election. Is there anyone who will step forward and give these people some competition? Have they learned that so long as they keep the streets plowed and the garbage picked up they can get by with anything? We have many citizens of good character, high intelligence and excellent education in this town. But a cast iron stomach and a glad hand is also needed. If you fit this bill, will you please step forth and run for office?

Alice Copeland Brown

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