Nahant board looks to tackle unfinished tasks

NAHANT – The Board of Selectmen is putting together a to-do list of items that have fallen through the cracks over the last two years, and it’s already more than a page long.”There are a number of tasks that have been left hanging, unfinished,” said Selectman Michael Manning.Manning put together a list of nearly 30 items but suggested his colleagues cull through past meeting minutes and come up with their own lists of items and issues that have gone unaddressed.”We were lulled into a false sense of security,” he said.The list includes union contracts; a long-term maintenance plan; an updated committee list plus vacancies; capital projects, such as the cemetery expansion; and zoning enforcements, such as hedges that overhang sidewalks and a trash problem on Valley Road.Manning said one example of something that was almost overlooked came just before Town Meeting when the board realized it had not heard from the Insurance Advisory Committee. It had been charged with looking at health insurance for retirees. He said it did manage to get together a plan that saved the town money just prior to Town Meeting, but it was close. He also asked the committee to look at health insurance for existing employees but has yet to hear back.”I’ll encourage Mark (Cullinan, interim town administrator) to work on that quickly so we can get it in for this year’s budget, but a number of other things need our attention,” Manning said.Chairman Perry Barrasso said he was surprised by the length of the list.”It was more extensive than I thought it would be,” he said.But he agreed that there are certain items that have fallen by the wayside or were only partially completed.Manning and Barrasso were both careful not to directly pin the blame for the laxness in addressing town issues on any one person. Barrasso simply referred to “a previous administration,” but Manning noted that things began to slip in January 2012, which is when Andrew Bisignani was named town administrator.Bisignani served as town administrator for about two and a half years, resigning in June just barely ahead of an investigation launched by the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for the DA, said Wednesday that investigation is still ongoing.The board asked Cullinan to reclaim his duties on an interim and part-time basis on June 28. He joked that the list was a lot to accomplish on a part-time basis.Manning, however, said later that he doesn’t expect Cullinan to tackle everything.”Mark volunteered to set a timeline to get things done, which is the kind of thing you would expect with a good town administrator, but there are also things the board could take on and get done if we put our minds to it,” he said. “It shouldn’t be things that only fall on Mark’s back as an interim town administrator. He’s skilled, but there are tasks the board is supposed to be doing as well.”Manning said no one was keeping track of items and issues that the board raised, and the list was his attempt to open everyone’s eyes and lay out a plan.”I think it’s important,” he said. “We should put together a game plan and follow it.”