MARBLEHEAD — The Select Board is moving ahead with filling a vacancy on the School Committee that arose when former Vice Chair Emily Barron resigned due to a conflict of interest, despite the committee previously opting not to fill Barron’s seat.
School Committee Chair Sarah Fox, at a Thursday evening budget forum, informed members of the committee that Select Board Chair Moses Grader had reached out to her to let her know the board would be filling the vacancy. That move comes despite a motion made to fill the vacancy failing by a 2-2 vote at the committee’s last meeting, with Fox citing a desire to let voters decide who should fill the seat at the town election in June.
Fox said the board opting to fill the seat without a request from the committee represented a “new precedent.”
“A motion was not carried by our committee to seat that so this is a decision the Selectmen are moving forward with that was not originated with the School Committee,” she said. “That being said, I will work with Moses Grader to facilitate what he needs from us and what all of this means.”
Grader, in a statement, said the board was required to fill the vacancy under regulations for vacancies in town offices as spelled out under Chapter 41 Section 11 of Massachusetts General Laws, which dictates that “if a vacancy occurs in any town office, other than the office of selectman, town clerk, treasurer, collector of taxes or auditor, the selectmen shall in writing appoint a person to fill such vacancy.”
“If there is a vacancy in a board consisting of two or more members, except a board whose members have been elected by proportional representation under chapter fifty-four A, the remaining members shall give written notice thereof, within one month of said vacancy, to the selectmen, who, with the remaining member or members of such board, shall, after one week’s notice, fill such vacancy by roll call vote,” the law states.
Grader wrote that the law is “prescriptive regarding Select Boards as to authority and process, requiring Select Boards to fill such a vacancy by a joint roll call vote of Select Board Members and, in this case, the remaining members of the School Committee.”
“The roll call vote of joint meeting must be scheduled under the law after one week from the time notice is given to the public so that voters of the town may have the opportunity to state their candidacy,” he wrote.
Grader said “these matters” will be taken up by the board at their next meeting, slated for Wednesday.
Fox, in explaining why the committee moved forward without filling the vacancy, explained that it was her understanding based on precedent and having reviewed prior meeting minutes that under similar circumstances, seats had been allowed to remain vacant.
“I really was trying to follow the most recent precedent,” she said.
Committee member Meagan Taylor countered that she believed in those cases, committees had taken votes not to fill the seat, which, according to Taylor, differed from the vote previously taken by the committee on a motion to begin the process of filling the seat.
“Nowhere does it say that we have to take a vote to start the process,” Taylor said. “We should follow our policies and the vote should be if we choose not to follow that policy, which is what I believe happened in the previous case.”
Barron, a residential designer, said her resignation came after she appeared in August before the Zoning Board of Appeals on behalf of a client. She subsequently learned that her professional work created a potential conflict of interest with her School Committee service.
Barron said she immediately reached out to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, at which point she learned that the only way for her to continue to serve on the committee was for the ethics laws regarding School Committee members to be changed.
Barron said she consulted with the Ethics Commission and the town to craft and identify a possible solution involving redesignating School Committee members as special employees rather than regular employees. Special employees are allowed to appear before other boards and committees in town in a professional capacity, she said, while regular employees are not.
Barron said she took that proposal to the Select Board, and, she said, the board declined to change the designation because of members’ belief that doing so would represent a conflict of interest on their part. Select Board member Jackie Belf- Becker said the board did not discuss Barron’s proposal.
“It did not make it to the table,” Belf-Becker said.
Grader said he “did not think it appropriate” for the redesignation to come before the Select Board without a request from the School Committee to do so.
Barron said she was then left with no choice but to resign from the School Committee, a decision she dubbed “incredibly disappointing,” in part because, she said, another member of the committee knew of the conflict for the entirety of her term but failed to alert her. Barron, when asked, declined to identify the member.
“It was devastating that I had to resign because I do a tremendous amount on the board,” she said.
But, Barron said, she is uncertain if she would run again if cleared of any conflicts.
“It’s a pretty toxic environment so I’m not sure I would want to be in that environment,” she said.
In a letter of resignation submitted to Town Clerk Robin Michaud, Barron wrote that she was “hopeful that the remaining committee members can find a way to work with one another and our administrators in a positive, supportive manner to address the challenges facing our district.”
