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Date: 4/25/2023
WARE — The Selectboard met on April 18 for the first time since the election, which yielded two new board members.
Board reorganization
A motion was made by board member Keith Kruckas to vote Caitlin McCarthy as chair.
Jack Cascio, a newly elected board member, raised the question to McCarthy as to whether she would be amenable to reinstituting the comments and concerns section of the meetings that had been taken away from the meetings by the previous chair, John Morrin. Cascio said he was asking in part because of public input from his experiences canvassing for his campaign pre-election, where he found that people vocalized being upset about the removal of the comments and complaints section.
Kruckas responded that the “reason some of the things were put in place because people were taking too much liberty with the meetings when we were trying to move forward and get things done” and people were “bashing the board.” There were reasons for it and it is up to the chairperson to control the meeting, not anybody else.”
McCarthy said discussion of the comments and concerns section was on the agenda for this meeting and would be addressed at that time, saying, “I’m sure that we can reinstate using them [the comments and concerns section of the meeting] on the proper terms.” The voting resumed and McCarthy was unanimously voted to be the new chair.
Board member Joshua Kusnierz made a motion for Nancy Talbot to be vice chair. McCarthy made a motion for Kusnierz as vice chair, which was seconded by Kruckas and accepted by Kusnierz.
Kruckas said the chair or vice chair should be able to vote on everything, and when “you have a chair or vice chair who can’t vote on everything, it puts the board in jeopardy.” Kruckas said there were two board members who would have to recuse themselves from multiple discussions or votes.
McCarthy made a motion for Nancy Talbot to be clerk, which was declined by Talbot. McCarthy then offered Cascio the position of clerk which he declined as well. Kruckas commented that he “finds it odd that we have two new members that don’t want to participate or do any of the work.” “It’s kind of a stab in the back to every other member that’s been doing all this stuff,” he added.
Kusnierz volunteered to take the position and was voted as clerk.
Policy about removal of documents from town buildings
A new policy regarding the removal of town documents from town buildings, such as Town Hall, is being implemented as it was found that documents had been removed from the building to “someone’s personal residence,” according to Kruckas.
The town’s human resources representative had gathered a compilation of the policies other towns use for this issue and presented it to the board in the form of a draft of the new policy. Town Manager Stuart Beckley said the next step would be town counsel reviewing the draft of the policy and making their recommendations.
RFP for sale of water and sewer assets
Beckley told the board that there was a site visit recently, and the common question from the eight firms in attendance was that they found the RFP due date to be too soon. Beckley recommended extending the due date for the RFP by a month or two to ensure the interested firms had time to prepare their proposals
The deadline for the RFP was extended to July 15.
Appointments
Dennis Cote and Kristin Rosenbeck were appointed to the Conservation Commission for a term ending June 30, 2025.
Comments and concerns section
McCarthy said, “We as a board are going to try to use it [the comments and concerns section] to create an environment to help bridge our communication and create a space for communication for both the minority and the majority. At the end of these meetings, when we walk out of this room, I want you to feel connected, valued, and everyone in this room to feel seen.”
McCarthy said that as long as the speakers kept their comments and concerns to a maximum of three to five minutes, the board would allow the comments and concerns section to resume again.