Reporter’s Notebook: Some kudos, some gripes, and let’s check out the Select Board’s Zoom backgrounds!
When is a Select Board member acting as a public official and when is that member speaking as a private citizen?
That was the subtext Tuesday night during the Select Board meeting, when both Ed Prisby and Peter Carlson drew criticism for their actions outside.
Let’s start with Prisby, who relaunched his Planet Grafton blog in April, referring to his own board as a “directionless garbage fire.” That, plus Prisby’s comments in various Facebook groups, were the topic of a letter from Mark Johnson (embedded above), read aloud during the virtual meeting.
Johnson said Prisby “is promoting a highly toxic environment from within our local government,” citing various Facebook posts as well as his personal online interactions with Prisby.
“I would urge the Select Board to also ask Mr. Prisby to follow his own advice,” Johnson said. “Refrain from this current behavior and place more effort in representing the Select Board in the professional manner that the positon deserves. If he cannot provide that level of professionalism, he should re-read the last sentence of his “Endgame” article and do the right
thing.”
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Select Board member Donna Stock appeared to take issue with Carlson’s participation in Sunday’s YES! Grafton online forum on the proposed $4 million Proposition 2 1/2 override on the June 23 ballot. Stock questioned whether Carlson was speaking as a Select Board member when he discussed the Fire Department’s need to fund a full-time fire chief and two deputies.
“These are my opinions and my words,” Carlson said. “While it does have to do with town business, these are my words.”
When Stock continued to question him, asking to see the Powerpoint presentation slides, Carlson then spoke only to Chairperson Jennifer Thomas with his responses.
Another YES! Grafton forum will be held Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. with the same slides. Watch it live: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82870024014?pwd=ejR6VHFhM2x6aVlIOFhQbk9ra2F3Zz09
Password: 062320
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And now, some brief meeting snippets from Town Administrator Tim McInerney:
- Grafton’s annual Memorial Day parades will not be held this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to protect elderly veterans. The town, along with GCTV, will be working with veterans’ groups in town to put on a virtual celebration that will be broadcast on GCTV. “We do want to have some kind of ceremony, it just needs to be virtual,” McInerney said.
- The TA also had high praise for the work of the Grafton Senior Center, which serves 5,000 Grafton residents who are over 60. McInerney said the staff has arranged for face masks for seniors and reached out to those isolated by the pandemic to make sure their needs are met. “The senior center staff really needs to be commended,” he said.
- Back when the town arranged for the Grafton Public Library to temporarily locate to St. Andrews Church, it was believed the library expansion would be finished by August. With soil pollution on the site and the shutdown of construction due to COVID-19, the town has had to renew the lease for another year.
- Also coming up in June 2021: the end of Grafton’s contract with E.L. Harvey, which handles town trash and recycling. McInerney had some bad news: costs will definitely be going up. The current contract does not now charge for recycling collection, but with China no longer taking in the U.S.’s collections of cardboard, glass, and metal, the recycling aftermarket is now rough.
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Colleen Roy, a Finance Committee member and Select Board candidate, succeeded in getting her citizens petitions calling for the transfer of the $241,000 in already-allocated Super Park funding to the Municipal Capital Stabilization Fund.
That’s petitions, plural. Roy’s first petition, which erroneously referred to the “Capital Stabilization Fund,” was removed from the June 20 Town Meeting warrant due to the lack of the word “municipal.” Roy wrote a letter to the Select Board requesting a discussion of the removal at the next meeting (see attachment above), and also filed a second petition with the correct wording.
She asked that both petitions appear on the Town Meeting warrant, noting that state law does not allow town officials to remove or alter petitions submitted by citizens.
“We removed it because we believed it needed to be amended,” McInerney said.
“Any citizens petition, we have to leave up to the citizens… we shouldn’t be interfering,” Carlson said, suggesting that any issues with the wording be dealt with through the town clerk’s office.
Thomas, who is advocating for the Super Park and up for re-election in June, said she’d rather not have Roy on the Select Board’s next agenda.
“it sounds like you don’t want us to comment on them at all,” she said.
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One last thought after two months of Select Board virtual meetings via Zoom: when you peek into their private spaces in a public meeting (I’ve been watching too much HGTV), what can their backgrounds tell you?
- Peter Carlson has the most personalized space of the bunch, decorated with an American flag, guitars hung on the wall, and a comfortable leather chair. If he doesn’t grab a guitar and bust into a country song by the end of the pandemic, we’ll be disappointed.
- Jennifer Thomas has a homey space with warm yellow walls, a couple of family pictures and — wait, is that coffee cup declaring that she’s dog mom? Verdict: relatable!
- Doreen DeFazio arranges herself before a bright light pointed almost at the camera, washing her screen out to sepia tones. With her glasses on, she’s the good cop in a detective interrogation scene.
- Ed Prisby works late on Tuesdays to take his Zoom meetings from the privacy of his law office. This is clearly the move of a guy with kids and an open floor plan at home.
- Donna Stock used to use a Tron-inspired custom background, but now usually sits in front of a large painting with a gilded frame in the background. Definite museum curator realness.
- Tim McInerney leaves everything to the imagination. Both he and Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Meekins are Zooming in from the Municipal Center, and they leave their screens dark.
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