Affordable housing letter spirals into accusations of disinformation, threats, arguments, and swears

It started as a complaint about a letter opposing affordable housing at 25 Worcester Street. 

It spiraled into an allegation that a member of the Select Board mishandled correspondence, references to the long service of various committee members, and verbal sparring between a former and current Select Board member.

That last one, by the way, featured Select Board member Ray Mead yelling “I’m tired of this bullshit” at Affordable Housing Trust member Ed Prisby, something Mead as town moderator never would have tolerated at Town Meeting.

A breakdown of the discussion (see referenced materials in the slideshow above):

• Community Preservation Committee member John Stephens sent a letter to members of his committee, among others, asking that they vote against removing the senior affordable housing restriction at 25 Worcester Street at fall Town Meeting and suggested that the Affordable Housing Trust, which owns the property, should return it to the town. That warrant article, which sought that the restriction be changed to unspecified affordable housing, was ultimately passed over at Town Meeting.
• Affordable Housing Trust member Prisby called for Stephens’ resignation from CPC for spreading misinformation, noting that the CPC is one of the major funding sources for affordable housing. Prisby, an attorney, went on to write a post on his Planet Grafton Facebook blog discussing whether Stephens, as a public official, had a First Amendment right to express his opinion in this manner.
• Stephens apologizes to the Select Board in an email, noting that he is unable to attend Tuesday night’s meeting because he is in Texas on a personal family matter. “With the removal of the restriction, I was apprehensive that this opportunity might be lost. In my haste to share my concern with friends, I copy- and-pasted from the email that I had received. I thought that I had deleted the entire contents of the email, but failed to delete the imbedded letter. I certainly do not believe the exaggerated claims that it made, and upon reflection, think that perhaps its author (unknown to me as it was included in the email forwarded to me) was confusing the 25 Worcester Street property with the 7 Upton Street project at the site of the former DPW facility.”
• At this point, Ron Warwick, author of the letter Stephens was referencing, took offense to Prisby’s column, insinuating in an email to the Select Board that Prisby’s citing of a previous email he wrote to the Board indicated that he obtained it through Select Board Vice Chair Colleen Roy. “I want to know how an email sent to the Select Board, through the town’s website appears within two days 1. On a private citizens blog and 2. A blog who’s publisher is calling on the Select Board to remove Mr. Stephens from his position on the Community Preservation Committee. Let me give you a hint, Select Board Person Colleen Roy is one of three Admin on Mr. Prisby’s blog. The others being Mr. Prisby himself and Dan Cusher, member of the Affordable Housing Trust. Does this mean that Ms. Roy is providing Mr. Prisby with back channel information on the workings of the Select Board? Depending on the outcome of next Tuesdays Select Board meeting, Agenda Item 1,f, John Stephens, I intend to forward this to the Office of the State Attorney General and the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth with a complaint of a breach of professional ethics.”
• The letter — by law, a public record due to it being sent to town officials — was included in the Select Board’s meeting packet for November 16, which is posted online and accessible to everyone the week before. Roy noted in an email response to Warwick: “Regret to inform you that I did not “provide Mr Prisby with back channel information”. Your correspondence appears in the November 16, 2021 select board information packet on page 96, which is a public document for anyone to read. This correspondence I am responding to will also become a public document in the next packet.”
• Roy also brought up Warwick’s letter during the meeting. “I am too distracted by the threatening email Mr. Warwick sent to the board where he stated that, depending on how this conversation goes, he will be reporting me to the state.” Roy said she did not feel comfortable talking about the matter for fear of retribution. “On the spectrum of threats, this is a mild one… but I have zero tolerance for being threatened.” 
• Select Board member Doreen DeFazio said she personally did not like Stephens’ letter, but she likes him as a person and praised his years of service to the town. But she also was dismayed about the reaction to affordable housing and the “pointing of fingers.”
• Prisby told the board he doesn’t want to denigrate a volunteer of 25 years, he wants to talk about affordable housing. “What I found out over the past month is there is institutional opposition against affordable housing,” he said, noting that Stephens, along with several of the abutters in the audience, voted against transferring 25 Worcester Street to the Affordable Housing Trust at the spring 2020 Town Meeting.
• “I’m tired of this bullshit,” Mead interrupted Prisby. “Hypocrite,” Prisby responded. “Yes, hypocrite, go pound sand,” Mead said.
• CPC member Jim Gallagher defended Stephens, who he has served with on the committee since its founding. He took a minute, however, to talk about Prisby. “You know what we need in this town? We need the passion of an Ed Prisby.”
• Resident Marilyn Cusher expressed amazement that the implications of Stephens’ letter were going unaddressed simply because people liked him.
• The entire hearing is below starting 41 minutes in.

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