LYNNFIELD — The future of the Traffic Safety and Advisory Committee remains uncertain as both the Lynnfield Select Board and residents continue to discuss the committee’s approach and past struggles.
During a Select Board meeting on June 8, attorney Yael Magen said she was commissioned to do an investigation about TSAC by Town Administrator Robert Dolan. After interviewing all of the current and former members, Magen said there were several factors that came up in the report, including complaints from members of a disruptive and hostile environment. There has also been significant turnover and a total of four resignations since 2025.
Magen said that members expressed that one member in particular, who remains unnamed, made it difficult for the committee to actually take action and be effective.
“It felt that often a specific member of the committee wanted to do more than an advisory aspect, but rather kind of give commands or give prospects, specifically to different people that were there on the committee,” Magen said. As a result, members reported feeling a little “uncomfortable” and the committee struggled to be have productive meetings and finalize agendas due to constant back and forth discussion.
“People on the committee really felt that it’s such an important committee, but things could not be done,” she said.
TSAC member Thomas Manning gave a presentation on TSAC and the investigation. He began by outlining the success of the committee in terms of resolving issues, stating that of the 33 issues that were brought to the committee, 22 were completed, and 11 are not completed but in various stages of discussion and research.
Manning said the prior Select Board had “shut down” TSAC in January. Then, in March, both current and former members received a two-question survey from the Town Administrator about how TSAC operated and what they would either change or add to make the meetings work better.
In late April, the town then voted at the Spring Town Meeting to defer Article 17 to amend Article III of Chapter 7 of the Town’s General Bylaws, Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, by adding new sections that outlined the purpose and duties of TSAC and, therefore, to discharge the current committee.
“Why was a Town Meeting article proposed to discharge TSAC?” Manning asked. “I don’t know where that came from, and I don’t know why it came forward.”
Select Board member Joe Gallaghar responded to public comment and stated that the committee “requires a lot of good collaboration between the citizens and between the town employees to resolve these traffic issues.”
Vice Chair of the Select Board Dick Dalton then brought up the idea of sitting down to address all of the points that were made at the meeting and figure out how the Select Board will move forward. The board ultimately agreed.
