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Members present: Mark Karlberg, William Cavanaugh, George Fuller
Others Present: Colleen O’Connor, Beth VanNess, Bob Ronzio, Hildegarde Freedman, Ann Spadafora, Zina Jayne, Pat Parkins, Bruce Bosworth, Kenneth and Joan Kaiser, Gene Pike, Ann Krawet, Steve Schatz, Doug Reveley, David Scribner
7:00 PM Meeting opened.
George advised that the new open meeting law states that if anyone is recording the meeting that they disclose it before the meeting. He stated that the Selectmen are audio taping this meeting. Colleen O’Connor stated that she is audio taping the meeting. Bill advised that this is required by the new open meeting law that took effect July 1, 2010. He also advised that he does not know what to do if someone objects to this. He also stated that all boards and committees need to do this.
George motioned to go into Executive Session to address Town Administrator’s contract and will not return to open session, Bill seconded. Zina Jayne advised that there is a point of information and was told that there would be public input at the meeting on June 2, 2010. George advised that the meeting she is talking about is on July 7, 2010. Zina advised that she has a petition with 209 signatures on it supporting Tony Blair and she presented it to the Board. Pat Parkins advised that they have a right to speak and to find out why they are going into executive session to vote for and what has happened and why this is proceeding and wants to know now. George told her she should call Tony Blair’s attorney or the town attorney and ask them why. This is what he was advised to do
by the attorneys. Zina stated that she understands that they cannot talk about it now but she feels they have a right to ask questions before they deliberate. George advised that he will let them speak if it is not something that was heard before. Colleen stated that if this is not a breach of the open meeting law then it has the appearance of a breach because it is secretive and she wants to know what claims the Selectmen have against Tony Blair. She feels that it is their right to know and they should have the right to know what is going on. Bill stated that when an employee has an issue they can have this issue dealt with in an open meeting or by executive session. It was decided by Tony, his lawyer and the town attorney that this be handled through executive session. He stated that there could be things, if dealt with in an open meeting, that could damage them and they wish to keep it from the public. Colleen asked Mark when he
was invited to this meeting. He stated that the chair has a right to call a meeting and he heard about this meeting on Monday when George called him. Bill stated that he was told on Monday also. George stated that he heard from the Town Attorney at 3:00 on Monday and was told that the Selectmen needed to do it this way. At this point George asked a gentleman to disclose if he was recording either by audio or video this meeting. He stated his name as being David Scribner of the Berkshire Record and that he was recording notes with a Bic pen and a legal pad. Bill stated that he was sick and tired of the childish behavior and George stated that he was giving the audience a chance to speak but he could stop it and have the audience removed it they did not settle down. Doug Reveley stated that a lot of this could have been avoided if they were just clear from the beginning about what was happening. He said if they explained what they could
without being confrontational then they could have avoided being confronted. He also said that if they have an attitude then they will get an attitude from the people. Joan Kaiser advised that she was a school administrator and if she had a teacher that was having a problem she would bring the teacher in and set up some kind of timeline for the teacher to follow to make improvements and she would keep an eye on this teacher to see what kind of progress they were making. She asked if the Selectmen had a policy like this. Bill stated that he met with Tony on several occasions and made him aware of the issues that he had. He also met with a person who would act as a mediator and this person asked what Tony could do to continue his employment in Becket. Bill laid out what he wanted Tony to do and from that moment on there was no more communication. He stated that he agonized over this for many nights. Joan thought that if there was a
policy in place like the one she had in her school system then the next time there was an issue they could have something to work with. Ann Spadafora stated that she has been in town for 37 years and she remembers when the town went with an administrative form of government. The administrator was given broad powers of authority and she asked how they could micromanage his job. She feels that some of his actions were based on quick decisions because of time constraints and she does not know the facts but feels that the Selectmen should take this into consideration. She feels that Tony has brought a lot of money into town and saved the town money and she would hate to lose that. George explained the issue with the excavator and advised that the Selectmen never accepted the bid. It is the Selectmen’s job to award bids but this was never done. Tony went ahead and decided which company to deal with without the Selectmen’s consent. The administrator reviews the bids, and in some
cases the highway superintendent also reviews the bids, and brings their recommendations to the Selectmen and then the Selectmen award the bid. This was not done. Beth VanNess stated that her friend who applied for the assessor position claims that George never called her references. George stated that this was not true. Zina Jayne feels that the Selectmen should communicate better with the residents because before this meeting, it appeared that this was a power struggle but had the Selectmen communicated better then it may not have gotten this contentious. Bill advised that since the meeting where Tony brought his lawyer happened Bill did not want to go further until the Town had legal counsel. Once the town got legal counsel the Selectmen were told not to say a word about any of this so he explained that it was hard for the Selectmen to communicate anything. Steve Schatz advised the Board that he is now reporting for the Country Journal
and he is recording this meeting. George asked why he did not speak up when the Board was addressing the other reporter. He stated that he has been trying since then to speak. Hildegarde Freedman advised that she spoke with Tony and confirmed what Bill had said and she is in mortal fear about what will happen next because the people have reached a fever and she is afraid of what may happen. George thanked her for the warning but feels that the people can do whatever they want from this point. Bob Ronzio asked the Selectmen which provision they are using to go into executive session. George advised that the purpose of going into executive session is to conduct a strategy session in preparing for negotiations with a non-union person. He closed public input at this time. Bruce Bosworth stated that he has read all of the Selectmen’s minutes for the past year and one of the first meetings that George attended as a
Selectman he stated that he would work with everyone. He does not feel that this was the case. Ann asked the Selectmen to think long and hard about what they are doing and make the decision that is in the best interest of the town. There was a motion to go into executive session before the public spoke and it was seconded. Roll call vote Bill-aye, Mark- aye, George-aye. The Selectmen will not reconvene into open session. The time the open session adjourned was 7:36 pm.
Respectfully submitted, _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary George Fuller, Chairman
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