By Nicholas Barao, Neighb News Correspondent
The Acushnet Selectboard had its plate full on 8/8/22 discussing the upcoming election, vacancies on various boards, and the resignation of the building commissioner and both maintenance workers.
The board the resignations of Building Commissioner Jim Marot, and maintenance carpenters Tyler Camboia and Miguel Savison.
“I’m deeply saddened by Tyler and Miguel leaving,” said board member Kevin Gaspar. “We provided them that opportunity to get some experience with us. They’re just two great individuals and I’m deeply saddened to see these two young men leave.”
“When We recognize good employees, I think we’ve really got to think long and hard about how we compensate them, how we treat them, how we promote them, or we can decide that the business model that we want as a community is to be a feeder system for other towns,” said Chairperson David Wojnar.
He said the board needs to come up with a game plan to prevent the loss of people of good caliber like Tyler and Miguel in the future.
The board discussed the urgency of hiring a building commissioner versus only a building inspector due to the high number of outstanding permits that need to be issued.
Mr. Gaspar said the best way was to advertise for a permanent building commissioner immediately.
Town Administrator James Kelley suggested hiring an interim building inspector and said he had a couple candidates in mind.
Mr. Gaspar argued that time would be wasted looking for an interim when they could be looking for a permanent hire.
Mr. Wojnar said it was possible to do both. Since Mr. Kelley had two candidates in mind, maybe one would be willing to fill in temporarily while the town looks to hire someone permanently.
Mr. Gaspar continued to express concern over finding a long-term replacement, even though no one appeared to disagree with him, which Mr. Wojnar pointed out.
After the back and forth, Mr. Gaspar made the motion to advertise for a permanent building inspector while appointing an interim.
The motion passed.
In another matter in preparation for the state primary election on September 6, the board noted that redistricting has resulted in Acushnet losing Christopher Hendricks as their state representative. The town is now part of the Eight Bristol District, where Paul Schmid is the incumbent. He faces a Republican challenger, Evan Gendreau.
Early voting has started, with 100 mail-in ballots sent throughout town. In-person early voting begins Saturday, August 27, and will continue through Friday, September 2, at the town clerk’s office in the Parting Ways Building, 130 Main Street (see page 19 for details).
In another matter, the board announced that the annual cruise night that was scheduled for 8/25, has been canceled due to Matt Lopes’s knee condition.
Mr. Lopes and his family started the event years ago, and Mr. Gaspar said he felt the event could not be done without Mr. Lopes.
In other business, the board:
• Approved an Verizon request for a Jpole on Main Street near Nate’s Way.
• Approved the warrant for the September 6th primary election, with an amendment to add precinct 2A to the top.
• Approved the Lion Club’s request for a liquor license for the Apple Peach Festival on 9/10 and 9/11.
• Set a joint meeting with the Planning Board on 8/23 to interview Peter Giampa to fill one of the vacancies on the board.
• Announced they will also need a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors to interview Michael Peckham and Robert Brown to fill a vacancy on the board.
• Appointed Lori Bates to the Historical Commission; and Jesse Ellis, Cathy Murray and John Abary to the Community Preservation Committee.
• Invited Randy DeTerra to be interviewed for a vacancy on the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The board convened in executive session to discuss strategy with respect to Civil Rights litigation.
•••
Click here to download the entire 8/8/22 issue: 08-18-22 TeddyBear
Support local journalism, donate to the Neighb News with PayPal
