REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: The doctor is in, change orders, and just too many questions

“There are things you don’t know until you open up a building,” Andy Deschenes remarked as he appeared before the Select Board with another change order for the Grafton Public Library expansion.

Total cost for this order — #12 for those keeping track — is $164,081.17, which covers final design coordination for the existing building, delays due to soil contaminated from the contents of three underground storage tanks found during construction, and COVID-19 related costs.

Deschenes, the owner project manager,  said there is about $700,000 left in the project’s contingency fund. Total chase order costs to date are $613,019.71, bringing the project cost to $11,580,752.71.

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Last week, a power outage caused by Tropical Storm Isaias left Dr. William Muller unable to interview for a vacancy on the Board of Health.

Luckily for Muller, the Select Board, who interviewed candidates Lisa Kelley and Jennifer Maynard last week, was adamant that Mother Nature shouldn’t knock him out of the running. After a brief interview, the board unanimously voted to appoint him to the position formerly held by Deb Chouinard.

Muller is a general internist who retired from the Tri-River Family Health Center in Uxbridge, where he was medical director.

Select Board member Ed Prisby was excited to have seven volunteers for the Board of Health and urged them to consider other town committee openings.

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A second appointment also brought a great deal of experience to his role: please welcome Ray Mead, the new Emergency Management Director. You may recall him from his one-year stint as deputy Emergency Management Director and his prior 10-year run as… Emergency Management Director.

Mead explained he had to do a lot of travel for work, prompting him to cut back on his town roles. Now retired, he is able to devote more time to whatever he wished.

Mead, of course, is also known for his two decade stint as Town Moderator and past service on the Board of Selectmen.

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During normal times, the Select Board and School Committee both have public comment portions during their meetings. Occasionally, they allow the public to ask questions during a meeting but, for the most part, no one besides officials are able to speak.

Enter COVID-19, the pandemic that made public meetings by Zoom must-see entertainment…. complete with a question and answer feature that’s become a constant interruption.

“We have 11 questions pending from Teri Turgeon,” Select Board member Doreen DeFazio reported at one point during the meeting.

“Let’s just hold off on that while we talk about something that will probably answer her questions,” Chairman Peter Carlson responded.

This is not new. Turgeon, a former School Committee member, has enthusiastically adopted the Q&A feature, often typing in multiple comments each meeting. Last week, she even used two screens to fire questions at both the School Committee and the Select Board when their meetings overlapped.

“To me, that’s harassment,” Select Board member Mat Often said. “That wouldn’t be acceptable at a public meeting.”

The issue came up as the board was discussing whether to establish a Facebook page to answer residents’ questions, rather than interrupt meetings with lists of questions that likely were answered earlier in the meeting. The Select Board will discuss setting a policy at their next meeting.

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