Swampscott selectmen OK meeting night move

SWAMPSCOTT – Selectmen agreed to move their meetings from Tuesday to Wednesday night after Board of Selectmen Chairman Jill Sullivan requested the move so she could attend her son’s basketball games.Her son is in his senior year and he is a co-captain.”Last year I missed a lot of his games,” she said. “As a parent that’s hard. If anyone didn’t want to move them that would have been OK, but it was very nice of them to do it. I am exceedingly grateful they (other selectmen) accommodated my request. There is no holy grail about when we meet.”The Selectmen will be meeting on Wednesday instead of Tuesday for the next couple of months. It’s unclear if they voted on Sullivan’s request or just decided to move the meetings without a vote.Selectman Matthew Strauss said everyone agreed unanimously to change the day and time.”I don’t recall whether a formal vote was taken,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with changing the day to accommodate Jill’s need.”Selectman David Van Dam said he had no problem changing the meeting days.”The chair (Sullivan) was looking for some relief so she could go to the basketball game,” Van Dam said. “I’m all for youth sports and it’s fine with me to work around someone’s schedule. We want to do what is best for everyone.”When asked if the change could pose a hardship for residents who planned on attending selectmen meetings on Tuesdays, Selectman Richard Malagrifa said the change is temporary and he doesn’t have a problem with it.”I’m a team player,” he said. “I can work my schedule around the meetings and I haven’t received any complaints about the meeting being changed from residents.”Selectman Robert Mazow said he also agreed to the change to accommodate Sullivan’s schedule.”It’s only temporary,” Mazow said. “It’s just through the end of basketball season.”This is not the first time Board of Selectmen meetings have been changed to accommodate an individual’s schedule.Reid Cassidy, a former selectmen, said meetings were changed in 2005 to accommodate his law school classes. But in 2007, selectmen would not agree to change the meetings from Tuesday evening to accommodate his new class schedule so he resigned as a selectman.