It is important to respond to the op-ed by Paul Yatcko, director of Groton Utilities, "Consultant hire good outlay for Groton City," (April 24), which concerned the City of Groton using a "public relations" firm for advice about the Thames Valley Communications downfall.

He begins by saying "the City of Groton never spent one cent on a publicist, the municipally owned Groton Utilities did." OK, Mr. Yatcko, who the heck do you think owns Groton Utilities - some unknown entity? No, it's the taxpayers of the City of Groton, the same people who provide you with a paycheck.

Next he says the public relations company advised the mayor and him "as a first step, to meet with The Day Editorial Page Editor Paul Choiniere so the newspaper could obtain the information it needed" and that the public relation representative was present at that meeting.

Well, isn't that just great - the mayor and the director of the city utility department placed a higher priority on telling the newspaper about the problems than telling the taxpayers of the City of Groton and the ratepayers of Groton Utilities.

If this is true, it's time to clean house in the City of Groton.