A simmering dispute between members of the Harvard Historical Commission and members of the Board of Selectmen came to a boil this week when the commission chair and a former chair resigned in protest over the Board of Selectmen's handling of commission appointments.
Roseanne Saalfield, current chair, and Jonathan Feist, an alternate member and former chair, submitted letters of resignation to Selectmen Chair Marie Sobalvarro Tuesday night following a contentious meeting in which a divided Board of Selectmen–with four of five members present—refused to reconsider a recent appointment to the Historical Commission or, in the view of two Selectmen, to admit that it had failed to follow its own policies.
Sobalvarro met with Saalfield Wednesday morning to urge her to withdraw her letter, but Saalfield and Feist told the Press later that afternoon that they would stick with their decision.
"I remain resigned until and unless someone talks me out of this plan of action, which I don't expect," Saalfield wrote the Press in an email. "It's a hard, hard choice for me as I care so much about the important work the [Historical Commission] is doing—or trying to do—and yet feel so strongly that the [Board of Selectmen] recruitment and appointment process, so called, is so flawed and damaging that I do not honestly feel I am being given all the tools I need to do my job correctly, in an atmosphere of trust and openness."
Selectman Ron Ricci, one of three who voted for the appointment, called the process "an embarrassment." The Board of Selectmen could head off future controversies, he said Tuesday night, by Sobalvarro "showing some leadership" in "getting the chair of the [Historical Commission] to follow the procedure and not try to exclude candidates who don't fit in their club."
The previous week, Ricci accused Saalfield, who was not present at the time, of playing games with the Board of Selectmen.
"I won't stand for it," he said.
The immediate cause of the resignations was the process that led to the appointment of Barbara Hadad last Thursday morning to an open seat on the Historical Commission before its members could complete their own interviews of two candidates for the position. The position was left vacant by Jared Wollaston when he resigned in September. Hadad was the only candidate present at the meeting last Thursday.
Sobalvarro had not intended the appointment to be on the agenda that day, she said. In response to a question by Selectman Tim Clark Tuesday, town executive assistant Julie Doucet said she had told Saalfield Selectmen did not plan to make the appointment Thursday morning.
Nevertheless, the Selectmen voted 3-2 to appoint Hadad, with Sobalvarro and Tim Clark opposing the motion. The two selectmen argued then that the board should wait to hear the Historical Commission's recommendation of before voting.
This week, during public comment at a Selectmen's meeting on Tuesday, Saalfield and Feist asked the board to reconsider the appointment. But a vote to reconsider requires a motion by at least one member of the majority who voted in favor. Neither Bill Johnson nor Ron Ricci responded to the request. Selectman Peter Warren wasn't at Tuesday's meeting.
Board of Selectmen policy calls for candidates who wish to serve on a town board to submit their written applications to Town Hall for review by Selectmen as well as members of the committee with the vacancy.
According to Board of Selectmen policy: "It is the responsibility of the office of the [Board of Selectmen] to notify the Applicant(s) and Chairmen of the prospective Board or Committee of the time and place of the interview/appointment. Except for reappointments, the candidate(s) and a representative(s) of the prospective Board or Committee shall be present as may be necessary to facilitate the appointment."
It's common for Selectmen as well as committee members to recruit new talent and to lobby for their candidates.
The Historical Commission has its own nominating committee, which, according to Feist in his letter of resignation, actively recruits candidates based on its assessment of the professional expertise the committee will need to handle upcoming projects. Many town committees have specialized needs and seek out professionals to help them do their work for the town. But the final decision belongs to the Board of Selectmen.
According to Saalfield's account, Hadad was not recruited by the Historical Commission but she did formally volunteer and apply for the position and was interviewed alone by Saalfield and then later by commission members on Nov. 8. According to Saalfield's account, the commission was unable to schedule an interview with a second candidate until December and had planned to bring both candidates to a future meeting of the Selectmen to be interviewed later that month.
In an email to the Press, Saalfield said she had personally discussed the opening with 17 potential candidates, but in the end only one completed the necessary paperwork and agreed to be interviewed for the position. She said she learned the board had appointed Hadad Thursday evening. It was the second time this year the board had acted without a recommendation from the commission, she said.
Sobalvarro told the Press Wednesday there are currently 10 vacancies on various town boards, and some have been open for months. Other committees have been allowed ample time to recruit and winnow a list of candidates, she said.
Sobalvarro said that when she made up the agenda for the Board of Selectmen's meeting last Thursday, she had planned to take up the appointment of Pam Frederick to the Council on Aging, which had the email endorsement of its co-chairs and had been pending for five weeks. But, she said, she failed to be explicit when she added the item to the agenda and instead titled the entry "Appointments." That left room for other appointments to be taken up. Sobalvarro said she was surprised to find Hadad present and the Historical Commission on the table.
Hadad told Selectmen during her interview that she was told to attend the meeting by someone whom she was not at liberty to identify. But she accused the Historical Commission and its chairman of bad faith. She said she felt the process had been rigged to exclude her from consideration. "If the process is so flawed," she asked Sobalvarro, "why would anyone want to put themselves through this?"
In his letter of resignation, Feist accused the Selectmen of "fostering a culture of animosity between town volunteers," and of "holding secret meetings and performing sneak attacks against those with whom you theoretically serve."