GEORGETOWN – The SelectBoard will decide next week if it should take any action on a resident’s complaint, questioning the competency of board member Rachel Therrien for mischaracterizing whether the Conservation Commission (ConCom) “voted” on how it holds its meetings.
Therrien said at Monday night’s meeting that she had misspoken during the BOS meeting two weeks ago. She said that the ConCom had “voted” to continue its meetings remotely, on Zoom. What she said she should have told the board was that there was “a consensus” among ConCom members for holding meetings remotely and she had misspoken.
SelectBoard member Mike Donahue and Kevin Wood, a frequent critic of the ConCom, attacked Therrien.
Donahue, who has crossed swords with Laura Repplier and Therrien, the two female SelectBoard members, accused Therrien of “a continuing pattern of behavior” that included filing false police reports against board members and Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco.
Last year, while working on rewriting policies and procedures, Repplier declined to meet with Donahue alone. Two years ago, Donahue filed a 1,300-word complaint against Therrien, asking she be removed from her posts for incompetency. Wood also wrote a 25-page report criticizing the ConCom. No action was taken on either. The town’s attorney, KP Law, was consulted at taxpayers’ expense, but opined that both complaints were solely their opinions.
Donahue and Wood criticized Therrien, a veteran member of the ConCom and its current chair, saying “I do not believe that this was an error.”
He asked for the matter to be discussed by the SelectBoard in executive session scheduled for Jan. 26. Chair Rob Hoover and member Doug Dawes voted with him. Therrien and Repplier voted not to refer the complaint.
Pacheco explained that whether the matter is discussed in executive session or in public is Therrien’s choice in an executive session.
Donahue then spent 20 minutes of the meeting discussing proposed rules for public comments before the SelectBoard that set limits of three minutes for any individual and a total of 15 minutes to speak to the board unless it extends their time.
Ironically, given his and Wood’s attacks on Therrien, Donahue proposed a rule for the SelectBoard meetings that would prohibit members of the public from making personal attacks against individuals or engage in destructive behavior when speaking.
Wood claimed the ConCom, which he has applied unsuccessfully to be appointed to, had ignored a petition regarding a public hearing of the West Street project.
According to the minutes and television recording of the Sept. 18 meeting on Georgetown Community TV, the commission did review Wood’s petition and continues to deliberate on one of three West Street project. Therrien announced that Wood’s petition, one of dozens he has filed, was available for the public to read in the commission’s Town Hall office. Two of three West Street projects have been acted on after a discussion by the ConCom. A third was considered at last week’s meeting.
The petition against Therrien is not the first citizens have filed recently against a SelectBoard member. A petition with more than 100 signatures was filed against Dawes two years ago, but was never discussed by the SelectBoard. ♦
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