By Beth David, Editor
In what has become a routine occurrence, the Fairhaven Selectboard meeting devolved into rudeness and abruptness as members talked over each other and the chair abruptly cut off discussion on at least two agenda items, even electronically muting one member of the public who was trying to address a matter in which his name was invoked.
At their meeting on 2/22, the board did not discuss the item about the changes to the Town Administrator Screening and Interview Process, presumably in response to the board’s failure to choose a TA from three finalists, deciding instead, to grant an interview on Tuesday, 2/23, to Wendy Graves, the town’s Finance Director/Treasurer/Collector, who is also serving as the Interim TA.
Selectboard chairperson Daniel Freitas shut down that discussion when Mr. Espindola started the item by saying that the three board members had received a new envelope with information in their inboxes. Mr Espindola wanted to recess so the members could read the information.
Mr. Freitas, however said if “something was in the box today, we’re not gonna read it tonight.”
“I agree,” said board member Keith Silvia.
Mr. Freitas said it should be tabled, as Mr. Espindola said it was the “most important” — then he got interrupted when Mr. Freitas said there was a motion on the floor.
Mr. Espindola insisted that the board discuss the item because it related to the meeting scheduled for the next day (to interview Ms. Graves).
Mr. Silvia said he wanted to table it.
Mr. Espindola said if they did not discuss the item, then he would ask the next night for that meeting to be postponed.
“I don’t know what’s waiting in our inbox,” said Mr. Freitas.
The two went back and forth, with Mr. Silvia interjecting about seconding a motion.
“I was ready to rock and roll with this one until you told us something was waiting for us in our inbox,” said Mr. Freitas.
“I’ll second the motion to table it,” said Mr. Silvia.
Mr. Espindola tried again to get his fellow board members to look at the information. At some point, Mr. Freitas cut off Mr. Espindola and called for the vote to table the item, which passed 2-1 with Mr. Espindola voting “no.”
Mr. Espindola then made a motion to postpone the Tuesday meeting.
“If I knew what was in that,” said Mr. Silvia.
“You will by tomorrow, so will you agree,” asked Mr. Espindola.
Mr. Freitas said “will you agree there’s something out there you may not know about?”
Then they went back and forth about scheduling another meeting with Mr. Freitas saying something about a “mystery in another room” that “popped up.”
Mr. Freitas then chided Mr. Espindola about “communication” and another agenda item and back to the current issue and on for a bit, with Mr. Espindola saying he would read it.
“No, you’re not gonna read,” said Mr. Freitas.
“I’ll make it simple for you,” said Mr. Freitas, saying he would give information on other candidates because “this opened up a can of worms.”
The two tussled for a bit more and Mr. Espindola made a motion to postpone the next day’s meeting for 48 hours to be able to include the new information.
“I’m not gonna second it because I want to get tomorrow over with,” said Mr. Silvia.
The motion died.
The board also discussed an ethics complaint by Andrew Jones against Doug Brady, a member of the Rogers Reuse Committee. Mr. Jones alleged in his complaint that Mr. Brady had a conflict of interest and should not be on the committee because he lives across the street from the Rogers School, which the town is trying to sell. The current proposal is for more than 60 apartments.
Mr. Brady spoke at the meeting, noting that he had already filed a disclosure of his proximity to the school in 2015. He said he had been a member of that committee for six years and never had a complaint until he voted “no” on the recent proposal.
Mr. Brady said, “if anything I think it would be a plus,” living so close to the project. He decried the level of “hostility,” of Mr. Jones and said it was retaliation for the vote.
Mr. Brady said he did his “due diligence” and to appease everyone, filed the “shiny, new printed up form with all the new dates on it.”
“It’s a shame you had to go through this,” said Mr. Freitas, noting that the Selectboard had voted each year to put him back on the committee. He said it takes “one person to come out of the woods” and make a “scene.”
“It’s shameful,” said Mr. Freitas.
Mr. Espindola, noting that his name was invoked as a protagonist in the issue, said his role was just as the messenger. He said he received a call from Mr. Jones and passed it on to the town clerk’s office. He said the earlier disclosure form was not found by the clerk, and they ascertained that it was probably because the committee’s name had been changed.
“I want to make it clear that I did not have any part in pushing this in any direction,” said Mr. Espindola. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to any kind of public concern.”
When Mr. Jones asked to speak via the Zoom chat, Mr. Freitas ignored him and said he wanted to “move forward.”
“I asked to speak, since my name was brought up,” said Mr. Jones.
But Mr. Freitas said they were moving on. Mr. Espindola tried to interject, saying if someone had been named…
“We’re not going to make it a circus,” said Mr. Freitas.
“But you already made it a circus,” said Mr. Jones.
“Can you mute him,” said Mr. Freitas.
Mr. Jones got one more word in, “no,” before he was muted via the Zoom program.
“I would prefer people to speak,” said Mr. Espindola before he was interrupted by Mr. Freitas.
The board voted to accept the new form from Mr. Brady.
In the Zoom chat, Mr. Jones did get a few words in, he wrote: “I will go on record, that the entire Board of Selectmen AND the Rogers School Committee have a letter from me which they refuse to acknowledge. Additionally, continued misrepresentations and outright lies have been presented in this Meeting. Shame on you Mr. Chairman.”
In another matter, the board voted to accept language drafted by the City of New Bedford accepting a statement of “no objection” by the Army Corps of Engineers for a study and review of Vineyard Wind’s need to send large vessels through the hurricane barrier gates. The vessels are very large to accommodate the large wind turbine components that will be offloaded at the Marine Commerce Terminal.
The city and the Fairhaven Selectboard both raised concerns that a vessel may have contact with the sides of the barrier or damage the gates. Replacement parts are not available and the gates could be inoperable for an extended period of time. In his letter, Mayor Jon Mitchell recommends that the Army Corps make sure that there are spare parts available in case of an accident.
During the discussion Mr. Freitas chided Mr. Espindola for not notifying the board of the mayor’s letter. Mr. Freitas wanted to table the discussion, but Fairhaven Harbormaster Timothy Cox said it was time sensitive.
Mr. Freitas said they needed to get the mayor on the line. Mr. Espindola said the city had reached out to town counsel Thomas Crotty.
Mr. Freitas gavelled the meeting to recess, the sound went off and the screen went blank instantly.
The matter was taken up again at the end of the meeting, when the board was joined by Mr. Crotty, NB City Attorney Blair Baley, and terminal manager Greg Dolan.
“Thank you for confirming you spoke to their counsel,” said Mr. Espindola.
Mr. Crotty said it was a “policy decision” that the board needed to make and that they could probably rely on the information the city got regarding exposure to the town.
Mr. Baley said the city did a lot of research as to what could go wrong. They decided the project should go forward “given what it means to the region,” such as jobs.
Karen Vilandry of Hands Across the River Coalition, asked why Vineyard Wind could not supply appropriate sized vessels for the project and not put the hurricane barrier at risk.
Mr. Baley stressed that there is room for the vessels, and some ships that size already use the gates. He said the Corps’ concern was the number of ships, but the likelihood of a mishap was still “very remote.”
As the board discussed and seemed to come to consensus to approve the letter, Ms. Vilandry said she had a question.
But Mr. Freitas shut her down.
“Ms. Vilandry, we’re all set with the questions,” he said.
The board voted to accept the letter that Major Mitchell sent.
The board also accepted the Town Administrator report from Ms. Graves who thanked Anne Carreiro and Vicki Oliveira for assisting with the report.
Mr. Espindola said it was “impressive” to look at the accomplishments of the last year, and compare them to the goal setting session the board held at the beginning of the year. He noted that the town received 34 grants totalling more than $1.3 million.
The board reconvened in executive session to discuss two items. Mr. Freitas first started to close the meeting, saying there was no executive session, but was corrected that there were three items on the agenda. The board met to discuss two of them: review executive session minutes; and to discuss contract negotiations regarding Town Accountant Anne Carreiro, who does not have a contract, but is on the town’s wage classification plan; they specified they would not be discussing the contract for Ms. Graves, who is also on the WC plan, although it was on the agenda.
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Click here to download the entire 2/25/21 issue: 02-25-21 BaskRibbonCut
Click here to download Mr. Espindola’s disclosure: 02-23-21 EspindolaDisclosure
