Georgetown Chair Survives Ouster

GEORGETOWN – A few weeks after the town’s Conservation Commission Chair was asked to resign, members of the town’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) tried to remove its chair.
Former SelectBoard member David Twiss, upset with Harry Cortiglia, the veteran chair of the CPC, proposed that he not continue as chair. Twiss was angry that the CPC had not funded new lights for youth league baseball diamonds last spring.
Cortiglia is also chair of the town’s Planning Board. Both the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission, under Carl Shreder’s leadership, voted not to permit G. Mello Trash Disposal Corp.’s proposed 500-tons per day transfer station.
Twiss, as a SelectBoard member, supported the Mello proposal that has sharply divided this town.
The motion to replace Cortiglia with Twiss as chair of the CPC was defeated on a vote of six to three. Twiss, former SelectBoard member Gary Fowler and Mike Donahue voted to remove Cortiglia.
Following the vote, Cortiglia continued as chair and directed the board’s discussion of the proposed lights at the American Legion and Penn Brook fields. No vote was taken on the proposal to spend almost $200,000 on the ballfield lights because it needs more review. But most CPC board members, including Cortiglia, indicated they support spending town money on replacing the lights.
Georgetown, one of the first towns to adopt the Community Preservation Act, uses funds generated by property tax surcharge to preserve or create open space, provide affordable housing and protect historical resources. The CPC administers those funds.