REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Grafton has power issues, on so many levels
How do you hold a Zoom meeting when much of the town is without power?
The answer for both the Select Board and School Committee Tuesday night was “with patience.”
Some sat before their computers, hooked up to the internet via a mobile hotspot under the light of flickering candles. Others suffered from frozen screens and wonky sound. In the case of Select Board member Doreen DeFazio, she drove down to the Municipal Center mid-meeting to use a computer in the Select Board’s office.
Both boards had planned to hold or continue their meetings Thursday if power outages caused too much of an issue.
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Among the questions that came in during the Select Board’s meeting last night was a plea from Cindy Ide, who works as the town administrator’s secretary: just who does she work for now?
The answer is still a little convoluted. Town Administrator Tim McInerney and the Select Board signed a severance agreement that went into effect last Friday, a surprise to Municipal Center staff and most of the town. Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Meekins is now acting town administrator but lacks the controls of an interim town administrator after the Select Board decided to hold off on a decision until next week.
Who do you work for right now, Cindy? Our guess is the Select Board, for now, but Meekins is definitely in need of your expertise.
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Back to another hiring issue!
Fire Chief Micky Gauthier agreed to cancel his early retirement a couple weeks ago, but the issue of who will become Grafton’s first full-time fire chief remains unanswered.
The problem: under Grafton’s town charter, the fire chief is not what’s known as a “strong chief,” a person who can hire and promote personnel. That would require a vote from Town Meeting and a ballot question to enact.
But how do you hire a strong chief, who will work under Gauthier until his retirement on December 31, 2021, without having that person actually… you know, be the fire chief?
“I think that it’s very important to start doing this if we’re going to go with a full-time chief,” Gauthier told the Select Board, suggesting the town will attract better candidates if “strong chief” is the option.
The Select Board eventually decided to talk with Grafton’s mutual aid communities to see how they managed the transition before putting the matter to Town Meeting.
Meanwhile, Gauthier is now interviewing four candidates for fire inspector.
