Whether we like it or not, it's our job to make sure that our elected officials are fulfilling their duties as town stewards. The Board of Selectmen "issues list" was created by looking at when an item first appeared on their agenda, and thereafter over what time period the item remained "open" or unresolved.
For the moment, this is largely for illustrative purposes - but the obvious conclusions are 1) we are not very good at strategy and planning, 2) we have un/underutilized town assets and operational issues that are costing us money, and 3) capital projects seem to take longer than they should to get prioritized and underway (because we don't really have a process - it's adhoc). The dollar impact of the delays, missteps and lost opportunity is in the millions.
The other observation is that we will act quickly when things are controversial but clearly priorities for "somebody": for example, when the school projects were severely overbudget and needed bailing out, a 3-board meeting was held and residents were asked to vote for more debt, within a matter of weeks. Same for the Preservation of Holcomb Farm - the concept was introduced on short notice, a "workshop" was held, and the BOS approved complex financial and real estate matters again within weeks.