By Pattie Pacella, Neighb News Correspondent
The first order of business for the Acushnet Selectboard on 1/12/21 was to discuss the resignation of town planner Henry Young
Chairperson Kevin Gaspar stated that Mr. Young submitted a letter of resignation effective January 11, 2021, which included a list of 19 bullet points of projects he had been working on in a status departure report.
Mr. Gaspar thanked Mr. Young for his years of service and especially noting the projects that were currently pending with the Planning Board. Selectboard members Dave Desroches and Mr. Wojnar both thanked Mr. Young for his service to the Town and wished him continued success.
Among the projects still open, Mr. Gaspar stated, was a site plan review for a 4200 square foot gas station. The Zoning Board of Appeals said the plans were not in compliance with the Town’s bylaws and Mr. Gaspar stated that he had heard there was a lot of back and forth with this project with ZBA, Planning Board and the developer.
“It’s not fair to the developer,” Mr. Gaspar stated, adding that the Planning Board needs to get together for a plan site review and take the reins on the project.
“There seems to be some confusion on where the project should go first,” Mr. Gaspar said
He stated that he was concerned about the project, and it is a big development project for the Town. He also warned if the timeline was not followed, it is a project that could go through without public opinion or a sub plan review.
“We can’t allow that,” Mr. Gaspar said. “We need clarity for the developer as well as for the residents on this project.”
Mr. Gaspar stated that it was in the Town’s bylaw that the Planning Board was responsible for hiring a part-time planner.
“I’ll bring up the elephant in the room,” said Mr. Wojnar, noting that there had been a lot of discussion at Town Meeting about Mr. Young’s position, including whether it was truly part-time with his work load, and adding the special projects manager to his title, with that part of his job and extra stipend coming from the Selectboard line item budget.
Mr. Wojnar stated he would like the Selectboard to discuss whether or not the position should be shared between the Selectboard and the Planning Board.
“It’s too grey of an area,” Mr. Wojnar said. “It only confuses things further.”
He suggested a discussion with the Planning Board on how best to move forward.
Mr. Gaspar stated he agreed one hundred percent: “It’s never been about the person who held the Planning Director title. Planning Board needs a part-time planner at 19.5 hours a week.”
Mr. Wojnar disagreed, stating that he feels the town planner needs to be a full-time position, and there are a lot of issues and projects happening that require attention.
There’s a lot going on in the town of Acushnet, and I don’t think 19.5 hours is enough time for a Planning Director,” Mr. Wojnar stated.
Mr. Gaspar said the position would need to be vetted out through the budget season and the Planning Board.
“We’ll look into it,” he said.“To be determined, I guess.”
Mr. Desroches stated he was concerned about the town’s immediate needs and the impending 19 projects that are open per Mr. Young’s letter.
Mr. Gaspar stated that Pat Hannon, currently the part-time board of health inspector has expressed interest in the Special Projects Manager position. He explained that position relates to going after grants.
Town Administrator Julie Hebert stated the Selectboard’s purview is that it could hire a Special Projects manager. She said she has had communication with the Planning Board chairperson and he has stated they are okay with hiring an interim planner, but that is up to them to hire that person. She stated on the Selectboard side of things, the board could elect to hire an interim Special Projects Manager and that Mr. Hannon was interested.
Mr. Gaspar said he did not care if Mr. Hannon did both the Special Projects manager position as well as the interim Planning Board position until the end of the fiscal year, “as it is only a few months away.”
Mr. Desroches made a motion to hire an interim Special Projects Manager.
However, Mr. Wojnar stated this was the first time he was hearing of it in a public forum and wanted to give it some thought. He said he did not think it was vetted probably to just put someone in that position so quickly.
Mr. Gaspar stated that the Special Projects Manager goes after grants and Mr. Young was in the process of doing that. He did not want to see that lapsed.
Mr. Wojnar argued that this was the first discussion and he was not prepared to vote on the hiring. He asked the board to table the discussion until they were able to discuss it further.
“I don’t think it has to be done this quickly,” Mr. Wojnar said.
Mr. Desroches stated he was willing to table the discussion until they were all prepared to vote on the position. He said his main concern was that they do not fall behind on projects.
Mr. Gaspar stated he would allow the discussion to continue to their next meeting in two weeks and asked Mr. Wojnar to discuss his concerns with Ms. Hebert.
In other business, civil engineer, Dave Davignon was appointed to the Lake Street Improvement Committee, and a $2,000 transfer from the reserve fund was approved for a secretary for the committee.
The board also started a preliminary discussion of the FY22 budget.
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