From Massachusetts General Laws:
Chapter 268A: CONDUCT OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES;
Section 21A: Members of municipal commission or board; restrictions on appointments to certain positions
Section 21A. Except as hereinafter provided, no member of a municipal commission or board shall be eligible for appointment or election by the members of such commission or board to any office or position under the supervision of such commission or board. No former member of such commission or board shall be so eligible until the expiration of thirty days from the termination of his service as a member of such commission or board.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a member of a town commission or board, if such appointment or election has first been approved at an annual town meeting of the town.
Does this section apply to the Templeton selectmen being on/serving on or being appointed or voted on by the board of selectmen? Putting themselves on so many committees seem to give undue influence to the selectmen; for instance, two selectmen serving on the elementary school building committee and then those same selectmen voting on that issue. Conflict of interest? A selectmen serving as veteran service officer and receiving pay which is voted on by the board of selectmen. Signing the warrant for town meeting which that selectmen has a financial interest in, conflict of interest law violation? In fact, is serving on any committee that is overseen by the selectmen, with one or more selectmen serving on the committee, is that a violation of the law? Questions that need asking and will be asked. First up, questions about conflict of interest.
Selectmen serving on far to many committees and having way to much interest/influence over them cannot be good for the town. This could be one of the reasons for the change at the VSO position in Templeton. (lack of certification could be another reason) A selectmen stepping away from serving on the veterans oversight board could be the result of this chapter/section of MA law. Question (s) concerning this chapter/section brought to the interim - part time town administrator by member (s) of the Templeton of the community who really care about this Town.
I've done little research around this issue since the spring. I've written Selectman Brooks about this issue. It applies to any board, committee, commission. Unless the position on another Board, Committee or Commission is written in the Towns bylaws, Town charter or voted on at the Town meeting no member should be on multiple boards, committees or commissions.
ReplyDeleteAfter the 8/14/2017 BOS meeting I watched in which they appointed John Caplis to the Veterans oversight Board I wrote Carter. I did this even though Doug M questioned whether or not it was valid to appoint Caplis after the conflict with him as director. Carter assured him it was ok as this was an unpaid position. The State Ethics Commission sight states in its first line:
"As a Selectman, you generally cannot be appointed to any position, paid or unpaid, that is both appointed by the Board of Selectmen and is under the supervision of the Board of Selectmen. "
I received an email from John Caplis questioning my concern. I sent him the information and John withdrew himself from the position and is looking into the matter. I respect his immediate attention to the issue and the desire to avoid any more issue for the Town of Templeton.
Hopefully we get this resolved. I personally feel like Jeff in the statement above. The BOS holds far to many positions within the town government. This allows for very few people to steer the direction of every Board, Committee and Commission in town. It also limits the ideas, input for improving the Town you'd get from drawing from a larger pool of individuals.
We all need to pull together and get the town running correctly. Personalities need to be removed from the situation and the benefit of the taxpayer should be the only concern of any elected, appointed official in town.
Everyone should read the DOR Report. It is on Paulys Blog. This was the best report the town had ever received. It talks about the issue of the selectmen being on more than one board or committee. It also gave the town a list of thing that they needed to do to function more efficiently. I will tell you Bubba and his partner insulted the people from the DOR when they came. It was not until later that the report was accepted by the BOS when Julie and Jeff were on the board. To this day everything that was suggested has not been accomplished. Maybe if our leaders spent less time picking useless fights, they could actually get something done...Bev.
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