Middleboro: Whose hidden agenda?

Middleboro Tourism Committee to face disbandment?

By Matthew Ferreira/Staff Writer

Posted Jun. 25, 2015

MIDDLEBORO — Tensions that may have begun at the selectmen’s June 1 meeting, apparently the result of the board not heeding the direction of the Tourism Committee in terms of that committee’s appointments, teased the surface during the selectmen’s latest meeting Monday night. Now, one resident’s request for a possible dissolving of the Tourism Committee may be in-queue for discussion next Monday.

“I should be looking at the most cohesive and united board in this community, but I’m not,” said resident Tracy Marzelli at the selectmen’s meeting this past Monday night after commending each selectmen individually for his or her positive character traits. “I have an idea and it’s not going to make me popular, and I had a very sleepless night last night thinking about this suggestion, but I’m asking, Mr. Chairman, that you put on the agenda for next week, discussion to dissolve the Tourism Committee.”

“Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame the Tourism Committee for the division that exists on this board,” Marzelli continued. “However I do believe it was the tipping point, and I believe it will be a good first start to getting everybody on the same page and pulling the rope in the same direction.”

While Marzelli never directly stated what “tensions” or “tipping point” she was referring to, the words of a Tourism Committee member who spoke later in the meeting when the board discussed the adoption of a board/committee appointment policy, would offer a clue.

“I just feel from the mountain of phone calls and interactions I’ve had, it’s obvious in the community how our recommendations were not respected,” Tourism Committee vice-chair Sherri Swindle said. “You have now appointed a member who openly stated to your employee who was volunteering at our event that they were no longer part of Tourism and they didn’t wish to continue, and then we get a letter of interest with behind the scenes controversy being stirred up. That does nothing productive for the town, it does nothing productive for the committee.”

Swindle ended by recommending that the selectmen make “informed decisions” in the future when making committee appointments.

In an outside interview, Marzelli said that while committee appointments themselves were not a concern of hers, the disagreement around the Tourism Committee’s appointments was in fact the “tipping point” she referenced in her statement at the meeting.

“I see a lot of things and hear a lot sitting on the sidelines and this wasn’t an easy request to make, but I’m hoping this would clear the air and make a more unified board,” she said.

When asked for examples of what things have been observed “sitting on the sidelines”, Marzelli declined to say, noting she would try to resolve things privately, however if not, she may address specific issues publically when or if the discussion ever makes it on an agenda.

“I don’t have an axe to grind or an issue with the appointments — I just really want the tension to end, and all the things that have been occurring in and around these meetings — it needs to stop,” she said. “It’s never directly affected the way a meeting went because the behavior went unnoticed and it didn’t get picked up by the taping because I reviewed it later, but unfortunately it’s just a toxic environment.”

In another outside interview, Swindle said she too acknowledges there is an inability for the five selectmen to “get along” but that dissolving the Tourism Committee will do much more harm than good.

“My concern is that all this backbiting and controversy is dragging down a committee that’s done so much good for the town. Every one of our events has been successful — not one has been a flop — and it’s because we have people that get down in the trenches and make it happen,” she said.

Tourism Committee founder and selectman Leilani Dalpe says the current perceived tensions on the Board of Selectmen stem from the selectmen’s June 1 meeting where the Tourism Committee recommended it be kept as an 11 person group, reasoning that having more people would make it more difficult to meet the group’s quorum requirement. Regardless of this, the board brought the number up to 13 based on the 13 letters of interest received, raising the group’s quorum requirement to seven.

“I had brought it up at that meeting that we’re not trying to exclude anyone, but we need to make meetings and we chose our recommendations based on what was going on at our meetings, but they voted 3-2 to raise the number,” Dalpe said, noting that every other board and committee request regarding appointments was followed.

Dalpe said she is familiar with Marzelli and holds her in high regard, however she does not understand the request she made.

“She’s a very smart woman, and I know she volunteers all over the place,” she said. “I just don’t understand. I had no idea that was coming. We brought in 18,000 visitors to town last year, we have four businesses that are opening up because they went to one of our festivals and thought Middleboro would be a great placed to open a business, and we’ve never taken a dime from this town. It’s the town I feel bad for if Tourism goes away.”

According to Dalpe, who was interviewed Tuesday afternoon, Executive Assistant to the Board of Selectmen Jackie Shanley had informed her that discussion on disbandment of the Tourism Committee had been placed on next Monday’s agenda, however the agenda had not yet been finalized or posted officially. The Gazette was unable to confirm placement of the item with Shanley by press time.

The committee appointment policy, which was adopted by the board on a vote of 3-2 Monday night, states that openings must be publically posted a minimum of 30 days prior to the appointment, that letters of interest or non-interest will be requested when a committee member’s term is up, the selectmen will take committee’s recommendations under consideration regarding appointments, and that in cases where more than one letter of interest is received for an opening, the selectmen may ask individuals to appear before the board to “speak to their interest in serving....”

The Tourism Committee met last night (Wednesday), where Dalpe said the possible upcoming agenda item to disband the group will be discussed.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20150625/NEWS/150629699/101136