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Date: 8/18/2022
SOUTHWICK – Former Conservation Commission member Maryssa Cook-Obregon said she is “disgusted” at being removed from the commission by the Select Board for the second time in under a year.
Just like last year, there were two Select Board members in favor of removing her from the commission, though unlike last year, the Aug. 8, 2022, vote was taken with the third Select Board member present – and against it.
Cook-Obregon said she felt utterly “dismayed” when the Select Board was going through the list of reappointments it needed to make to various boards and committees and voted 2-1 not to reappoint her to another term on the commission. Instead, for the two terms expiring this year on the commission, the Select Board reappointed Commissioner Kevin Solek, and appointed Andy Reardon to the commission for the first time.
The Select Board’s newest member, Jason Perron, had made a motion to reappoint both Cook-Obregon and Solek, but neither of the other two Select Board members, Russell Fox or Doug Moglin, seconded his motion. Moglin then made a motion to appoint Solek and applicant Andy Reardon, which Fox seconded. Perron was the lone vote against appointing both Solek and Reardon.
Perron said Aug. 11 that he voted the way he did simply because he felt Cook-Obregon was the better candidate, though he agreed Reardon was qualified in his own right, and an impressive candidate.
“I have no problem with how things turned out, I just voted the way I voted based on the information I had,” said Perron. “I made that promise during my campaign that I would make decisions based on what I thought was best for the town.”
Perron commended Cook-Obregon for her civic involvement, and said that she is “highly regarded” among the other conservation commissioners.
Fox, the Select Board chair, said Aug. 10 that he does not have anything against Cook-Obregon personally, only that he thought Reardon would be a good asset on the Conservation Commission due to his background in conservation.
“[Cook-Obregon] is on the Agricultural Commission and she’s on the Master Plan Advisory Committee. This gives us the opportunity to give another person a shot at serving in town government,” said Fox. “I just looked at the situation, and my first inkling was that Andy Reardon’s background is very impressive in conservation.”
Fox said Solek was reappointed in large part because they believe it is important to have a farmer on the Conservation Commission in a farming community like Southwick.
In late September of last year, the Select Board left Cook-Obregon and three other incumbents off its list of re-appointments to various volunteer committees. The removed commissioners were Cook-Obregon on the Conservation and Agricultural commissions; Dennis Clark on the Agricultural Commission; and Christopher Pratt on the Community Preservation Committee (CPC).
Cook-Obregon and Clark were later reinstated to their positions when the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office found that the Select Board had acted illegally in removing them by not allowing them a chance to interview or reapply for their seats. Pratt rejoined the CPC as an elected member in this spring’s town election.
Cook-Obregon gave a brief statement to the Select Board at the beginning of the Aug. 8 meeting this year. Her term on the Agricultural Commission had expired on June 30, as well, but the board voted to reappoint her to that position. Cook-Obregon said that she thinks the board reappointed her to the Agricultural Commission because it doesn’t have the same legal authorities on land conservation as the Conservation Commission.
“I feel as though it was not based on my performance,” said Cook-Obregon. “It has to be personal at this point.”
Conservation Commission Chair David MacWilliams said he was “very disappointed” in the Select Board’s decision not to reappoint Cook-Obregon.
“She has been probably the most active member of the commission the last couple of years,” said MacWilliams.
He said he wasn’t upset to see Andy Reardon join the Conservation Commission. MacWillilams said he has known Reardon since they were kids, and said he had the experience through his work with the Scouts and in dealing with the Planning Board and Conservation Commission on a regular basis through his business, A&R Auto Glass.
MacWilliams’ main concern was that he felt Cook-Obregon was removed last year because of some of her conservation activism which has at times clashed with the Select Board, and that this is an extension of that.
Fox maintained, as he has through the whole reappointment process for all boards and commissions this year, that they followed the process as ordered by the state attorney general and have been “extremely cautious” in doing so to avoid another Open Meeting Law violation.
“We had been doing appointments one way for 250 years, now we are trying to do it a different way,” said Fox.
One more seat on the Conservation Commission remains vacant after the recent resignation of Brian Pranka. Fox said this vacancy will be treated separately from the seats that were due for reappointment. He said it will still follow the same process as the reappointments, in which interested candidates can submit a statement or do a public interview with the Select Board.