Troubled Town Boards Turn to Mediation

GEORGETOWN – If you have ever gone through marriage counseling with a mediator, you can appreciate what the town of Georgetown is about to go through as it tries to restore the trust between the SelectBoard (BOS) and its Conservation Commission (ConCom).
The two boards, which have been at odds for months, met last week to consider hiring an independent facilitator to conduct a series of joint meetings between the two boards, including a first session to “vent” grievances and concerns from each board member.
The next meeting to continue discussing the hiring of the mediator will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 11.
“Trust has to be earned,” said SelectBoard member Robert Hoover. “It will have to be in small steps.” He suggested that the meeting to express grievances and concerns among the two boards “will take a lot of courage. It will create a lot of havoc.”
Carl Shreder, the long-time chair of the ConCom, said trust and credibility between the two boards and their staffs “have been broken.” He said the Conservation Department “has been torn apart over the last couple of years. We need a board, staff and a budget,” he said.
Tension between the two boards and their staff, which has spilled over into the residents, has been escalating. Some attribute it to the ConCom’s decision not to grant a permit to the G. Mello Trash Disposal Corp. for a 500-ton per day station. That decision is on appeal.
In January, Conservation Agent Steve Przyjemski resigned after 17 years because of a “hostile” and “unprofessional” work environment at Town Hall.
The SelectBoard, prior to the last election, voted not to reappoint commission members Laura Repplier, who had served nine years on the commission, and Rebecca Chane, who had served six years. After the last SelectBoard election, which brought two new members to the board and Amy Smith became the chair, Chane was reappointed. Ida Wye, an experienced landscape designer, who was rejected by the previous SelectBoard was appointed to the board to replace Repplier.
Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco, who has been excluded from the mediation, said at the time that Przyjemski was “not pressured to resign,” but suggested that the commission had engaged in “fraud” regarding Przyjemski’s salary.
The town has since hired a private detective firm, the Stirm Group, to investigate the commission.
Hoover presented the name of one candidate for the role of mediator, and Shreder agreed to interview him. But members of the ConCom were skeptical after hearing he had worked with Pacheco in the town of Lancaster.
Smith, the BOS chair, said it is critical that the two boards develop mutual respect, trust one another and treat one another with civility.
Shreder blamed “keyboard warriors” in town, who have sent threatening emails to him and other commission members.
Several commission members brought up accusations from residents and the town administrator, that the conservation agent and commission members have “trespassed” on private property to inspect construction projects and potential violations of the town’s wetlands bylaw, which the commission enforces.
“We are not trespassing,” Shreder said. He said the conservation agent and commissioners are only doing their job of inspecting encroachments on wetlands.
He proposed that the commission have each applicant to the commission sign an agreement that allows commission members or the conservation commissioner to go on private property. “I don’t want to get any commission members assaulted,” Shreder said.
Several commission members complained about the town hiring the Stirm Group to investigate the commission, but Smith declined to discuss it because the detectives were hired in BOS executive session.
The commission, which is currently without staff, is in the process of negotiating a contract with a potential candidate.
Resident Kevin Wood filed a complaint with the state Attorney General on Oct. 20, claiming the commission violated the Open Meeting Law because it did not include the hiring of a conservation agent on its posted agenda.
Wood requested that the state “enjoin the ConCom from hiring without first complying with the Open Meeting Law and following all legal hiring and best practice requirements.”