Jean Perry, Neighb News Correspondent
The Fairhaven Selectboard on 3/8 voted to reject the Arch Community, LLC proposal for a 62-unit affordable housing development at the old Rogers School site, but left the door open for proposals for a smaller-scale development.
Selectboard member Bob Espindola initially wanted to abstain from a decision until receiving feedback from the Capital Planning Committee about where the Rogers School could potentially place in the prioritization of future projects should the town explore another use for the building. Ultimately, though, the board concluded that regardless of any plausible alternative, Community Arch’s current proposal was unsuitable.
“People have spoken up pretty heavily about it,” said Selectboard member Keith Silvia. “I’d like to mothball this building and see what we can do.”
The board discussed a 2018 town facility assessment and the speculation that the School Department would be seeking roughly $8 million to renovate the Tripp School currently leased to SMEC, and move its administration there.
Selectboard Chairperson Daniel Freitas recapitulated the possibility of using that money to renovate Rogers School for town use instead of the Tripp School and mentioned that Town Hall is getting cluttered with document storage and could use Rogers School as an annex of sorts.
School Committee Chairperson Brian Munroe interjected to negate that the school administration had ever planned to renovate Tripp School as administrative space. He added that, despite the town’s facility assessment that classified the school’s current location on Washington Street as in a state of disrepair and recommended the Tripp School as an alternative, the present admin building only needs painting and some work, but not $8 million worth.
Mr. Silvia suggested the town could explore grants or add Rogers School to the National Register of Historic Places, but should fairly inform the developer that his proposal is unacceptable as is.
In other matters, the board voted to postpone the Annual Town Meeting until June 12 in a 2-1 vote, with Mr. Espindola dissenting.
According to Interim Town Administrator Wendy Graves, a number of other towns in Massachusetts are postponing their annual TM until after the governor releases his final state aid figures.
Town Moderator Mark Sylvia, however, did not agree that a postponement would be helpful. He said TM would still likely have to be held remotely in June rather than the first Saturday in May, the traditional date, but said he would defer to the board.
Ms. Graves said if she had the state aid figures before TM, “Maybe we don’t need to cut the budget too much.”
Mr. Silvia said he was inclined to follow Ms. Graves’s lead.
“If that’s what she thinks, I’d have to back her on that,” he said.
Mr. Espindola disagreed, and suggested the board keep public safety concerns and budgetary concerns separate. Regarding the pandemic, the town should err on the side of caution. He disagreed with postponing so that TM could possibly meet in person outside at the high school field.
Furthermore, Mr. Espindola said, he called the Massachusetts Municipal Association and spoke with the Senior Legislative Analyst Brittney Franklin who told him the governor would be increasing his state aid budget by 3.5%.
“From their perspective, it’s not unlike any other year prior to COVID,” said Mr. Espindola. “We never get the budget numbers solidified from the governor before we make the budget.”
He said only a handful of towns have considered delaying TM, and none of them did it because of the budget, rather it is because of COVID, and wanting to hold the meeting in person outside..
Mr. Espindola said Ms. Franklin reported that the governor has been aware of municipal anxiety over state aid and worked to “make local municipalities feel more comfortable going into the budget season.”
Mr. Freitas said he disliked the remote TM and Mr. Silvia claimed that most people did not like it.
Mr. Sylvia, the town moderator, said that although a few towns may hold theirs outdoors, the vast majority will remain remote amidst the ongoing risk of the pandemic and the logistics involved in pandemic-related requirements such as social distancing. He reminded the board that Fairhaven has the largest representative TM in the state, with 400 elected members and cited the “logistical nightmare” of trying to conduct TM on a football field.
He said remote was the “safest way to conduct business for the town.” The town has already done it twice now, successfully, he added.
“My very strong recommendation is that we continue to do it remotely,” said Mr. Sylvia.
Mr. Freitas pivoted back to the budgetary matter to support postponing to wait for solid state aid numbers, but Mr. Espindola again referred to what Ms. Franklin recommended.
“I think she knows what she’s talking about,” said Mr. Espindola. “I don’t really understand the rationale (of postponing).”
Planning Board Chairperson John Farrell spoke via Zoom about the time-sensitive nature of FEMA’s amended flood maps that need to be approved by TM by July 12. He asked whether Ms. Graves had looked into any other time-sensitive matters that could be affected by postponing TM. She said she did not contact the Planning Board, if that was what Mr. Farrell was implying. Mr. Farrell asked if she had contacted anybody, and Mr. Freitas said if there was a conflict of any kind that people would be letting them know.
Mr. Freitas motioned to postpone until June 12, and it passed 2-1 with Mr. Espindola voting “no.”
Later in the meeting, the board scheduled Ms. Graves’s interview for the town administrator position for Thursday, 3/11, at 4:30 p.m., but not before Mr. Espindola pointed out the apparent advantage Ms. Graves has by knowing which questions would be asked ahead of time, an amenity not available to the three finalists picked by the TA Screening Committee and interviewed on 2/16.
One finalist, Ari Sky, has since withdrawn from consideration after accepting an offer by Lakeville during the three weeks Mr. Freitas and Mr. Silvia have taken to accommodate Ms. Graves’s interview. Her 2/23 interview was postponed after her attorney issued Mr. Espindola a Cease and Desist letter alleging that he had made defamatory remarks about her, remarks which Mr. Espindola denied (See “TA candidate sends cease & desist to Selectboard member” Neighb News 2/25 issue).
Prior to the 2/16 interviews, the board had taken measures to uphold fairness by withholding the live broadcast of the meeting and the recording’s release until after the interviews were over. At the end of that meeting, Mr. Silvia motioned to grant Ms. Graves an interview, despite her having been passed over as a finalist in the screening process. The vote was 2-1, with Mr. Espindola dissenting. His motion to appoint Jennifer Callahan as TA went unseconded.
Before calling for measures to impart some degree of fairmindedness for the finalists already interviewed, Mr. Espindola said he received a call from Gary Carter, a Fairhaven resident who applied for the position and claimed he was told that he would be a finalist and would receive an invitation for a final interview but never did. Mr. Espindola said he was interested in knowing why Mr. Carter was not considered since the board opened up interviews to a candidate beyond those recommended by the screening committee.
Mr. Espindola also pointed out that Mr. Silvia did not disclose his interest in interviewing another candidate until after the other three candidates were interviewed.**
Mr. Espindola also suggested Ms. Graves should be interviewed remotely via Zoom as the other candidates were, and each Selectboard member should ask Ms. Graves the same number of questions limited to the same subjects.
Ms. Graves asked if she should leave the room, and as she did, Mr. Espindola commented, “I mean this meeting is being recorded, anybody can watch it… this is where we are.”
Mr. Espindola gave a summary of which questions were asked by whom.
Mr. Freitas took offense to Mr. Espindola’s mention of Mr. Carter, referring to it as having “dropped a bomb” and said he did not recall Mr. Carter’s name while sitting as a self-appointed member of the Screening Committee. He asked Mr. Espindola why he had to wait until the meeting to ask about Mr. Carter and asked, “You couldn’t ask me in private?”
“No, because we can’t talk about this stuff outside of our meetings,” said Mr. Espindola.
“You sure? You can’t talk about stuff outside of meetings?” asked Mr. Freitas.
“We cannot, you and I cannot talk about these things outside of meetings and I think you know that,” said Mr. Espindola.* “My point was just that if other candidates are coming forward and asking to be interviewed, I just feel like we need to be, you know, we opened a can of worms and we need to be sure that we are able to address them.”
Mr. Freitas and Mr. Silvia agreed that they would ask Ms. Graves the same questions that they asked the three finalists, as would Bernie Lynch, the town’s hiring consultant.
When Ms. Graves returned to the room Mr. Freitas told her, “You will be asked the same questions that were asked — that we were — that’s part of the thing.”
*Editor’s Note: It is a violation of Open Meeting Law for a quorum of members to communicate directly about matters within the jurisdiction of the Selectboard outside of a noticed meeting (G.L. c. 30A, § 18). Fairhaven has a three member board, therefore two constitutes a quorum.
**Corrects error from previous versions. Mr. Espindola did not mention a conflict of interest involving Mr. Silvia. We apologize for any confusion our error may have caused.
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