http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/203/metro/Delay_in_board_appointments_ raises_questions+.shtml
FRAMINGHAM Delay in board appointments raises questions By Matt Viser, Globe Correspondent, 7/22/2003 After twice delaying the Conservation Commission's appointments, the town manager said yesterday that he plans to fill four positions on the seven-member board at this week's Board of Selectmen meeting. The board hasn't operated at full strength since two members resigned in May, which members say has made it difficult to achieve a quorum. In addition, two other members' terms expired on June 30. ''I just don't understand his reason for delaying,'' said Chairman William G. Merriam, one of the members who has asked the town manager to reappoint him for another three-year term. ''Administratively, it's made things difficult. If anyone's absent or needs to recuse themselves [from a decision because of a conflict of interest], it makes it really tough.'' Town Manager George P. King Jr. says he hasn't purposefully been dragging his feet on the appointments, and adds that the recent resignation of Conservation Administrator Cindy Dionne has contributed to the delay. Dionne, whose resignation is effective next month, is moving to Maine, where her husband has taken a new job. ''Ideally, they would have been appointed earlier,'' he said. ''But I wanted to take the opportunity to think about it a little bit.'' As town manager, King is in charge of appointing members to three different town boards: the Conservation Commission, the Historical Commission, and the Commission on Disability. Most town appointments were done at the Board of Selectmen's meeting in May. At that time, King said he would make appointments to the Conservation Commission on July 10, but he later delayed those indefinitely, until his announcement yesterday. There are no laws or statutes that dictate when King must make his appointments, although most term limits expire on June 30. Merriam and Andrew Toorock , whose term limits have expired, are allowed to continue to serve on the Conservation Commission until they are either reappointed or someone is appointed in their spot. Since May, when two members resigned, the commission has had only five members, and town counsel advised the board that they still needed four members to have a quorum. Merriam said he had to return early from a family vacation in northern Maine to make sure enough members were present at a meeting last month. And there have been several instances where Conservation Commission meetings were delayed for at least an hour simply because they were waiting on one member. ''It's kind of embarrassing, all of us just sitting around, but legally, we can't open the hearing until we have a quorum,'' Merriam said. In addition to Merriam and Toorock asking to be reappointed, six others have submitted applications for four open slots on the commission, according to King. A town official who asked not to be identified said that King could be delaying the appointments to make it difficult for the commission to file an article at the fall Town Meeting that would negate a $1 million land deal that King orchestrated two years ago with Natick. The Conservation Commission opposed the deal, which would place a four-lot subdivision on two of the 14 acres off Pumpkin Pine Road and turn the remaining land over to Natick's Conservation Commission. Last month, a Town Meeting article that would have authorized the deal failed, and the Board of Selectmen have been working to bring it back in the fall. But Merriam said several Town Meeting members have asked the Conservation Commission to draft a competing article that would preserve all 14 acres. He said the commission has not yet formally discussed the issue. King denies that the land deal has anything to do with his delay in appointing new members to the commission. ''That just doesn't make any sense,'' he said. ''It's not even worth talking about. I don't see how the two are related at all.'' King has also drawn fire recently from the Disability Commission, which is short two members and has been waiting several weeks for the town manager to appoint new members. ''Is it because we're bringing to their attention problems with the schools? Accessibility? There are places that aren't in compliance with the [Americans with Disabilities Act], and that's going to cost the town money,'' said Dennis Polselli, a member of the Disability Commission. ''There's a feeling on the part of some of the committee members that this is retaliatory.'' King vehemently denies that he has anything against the nine-member disability board. ''If I thought they were doing the something wrong, cynically I could appoint more people to dilute them'' rather than stall their appointments, he said. ''Believe me, I don't spend my days out to get the Conservation Commission and the Disability Commission. This is a big town, and there's lots of other things to get done.'' Matt Viser can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 7/22/2003. C <http://www.boston.com/globe/search/copyright.html> Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. /andrea carr-evans pct. 3 To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe frambors" (the subject is ignored).
