GOVERNMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT TO BOARD OF SELECTMEN
In October of 2012 the Groveland Board of Selectmen (BOS) appointed a committee to concentrate on whether the membership of the BOS should be increased from three to five members; review the current organization/status of Groveland’s town government and to report back to the BOS with the committee’s findings at the completion of their work. The committee formed is known as the Government Advisory Committee (GAC). This report will address the first part of the committee’s charge as to whether the membership should be expanded from three to five members.~
The GAC members were Daniel J. MacDonald, Chairman, Joseph D’Amore, Lisa Dube-Carpenter, John A. Christopher, Vernon Cotton, Elizabeth Gorski, Kathleen Kastrinelis, Michelle O’Keefe and Philip Taylor. Details of information gathered and discussions and findings of the GAC are memorialized in the minutes of the meetings.
A vote was taken by the committee on January 23, 2013 on whether or not to recommend expanding the BOS from three members to five members. Eight committee members were present. The vote was five in favor of expansion and three opposed to expansion. The majority opinions follow.
The majority believes there are issues that cannot be voted on by some members of the Board if they have a conflict of interest. This happens for example, when a board member has a relative in a town department.~ If the other two members do not agree on a matter the board is deadlocked.~ A hypothetical example would be as follows.~ Assume that the highway department~makes a request for a new dump truck. ~ One of the Board~members is related to the highway commissioner and therefore it would be a conflict of interest to vote on the matter.~ The other two members do not agree that a new truck is needed. Therefore, no decision is made by default because of~deadlock.~The chances of this scenario occurring with a five member board are far less likely
~ Assure legal compliance with the Open Meeting Law. Violations and the appearance of violations are more likely to occur when two members discuss public issues privately because on a board of three a quorum exists with only two.~ This is less likely when there are three members.
~ The "rule of two"-~ A super majority exists with only two members on a board of three.~ Therefore appointments and other important matters can be controlled by only two people in the town and this, in some cases, may not be adequately representative for the town.~ There is a greater potential for abuse of power.
~ Shared responsibilities.~ There are several boards and commissions that are charged with various responsibilities to address issues and manage resources.~ Additional members on the board can act as "liaison" members to help facilitate communications between boards and commissions and the board of selectmen to help identify issues that need to be escalated. Furthermore, it may be possible to consolidate positions and create efficiencies in governance by enabling board members to chair other boards and commissions. So for example, a board member can be the chair of two commissions. Or the head of the health department can be a member of the Board.
Expanding the BOS could increase confidence in the BOS as an appointing authority so that town residents could vote to change key elected positions to appointed. Appointing a position in a manner that is broadly representative of a growing population would appear fairer with a five member board. The current status allows appointment of individuals for key positions by only two people with the current Board structure. Increasing the BOS to five members would provide the necessary checks and balances in the appointment process.
~ Over the years our town government has produced processes and followed protocols guided by law, by laws and also traditions.~ With increasing complexities in technological communications, reduced resources to operate with and new laws complexities have increased.~ Therefore, a Board with additional members can help address some of these complexities such as the scenarios indicated here and lead to a structure that accomplishes the following:
1.~ Better support town employees to carry out their duties
2.~ Better support boards and commissions to provide vital services.
3.~ Improve access to government services to citizens.
4. Strengthen our form of government so that we can maintain our Town Meeting form of governing.
Thank you for your consideration.
Daniel J. MacDonald, Chairman
Government Advisory Committee
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