In our story about the state of the Hildreth House Phase 2 design, we report that the chair of the Select Board recently complained she first learned its details in the Harvard Press. As flattering as that news may be for our paper, it’s no way to run a town government.
One objective of Harvard’s town charter was to codify clear lines of accountability. The newly named Select Board was given more responsibility for all sorts of things, which requires board members to pay close attention to matters they might have glossed over before. It would seem that the first order of business should have been to establish and maintain regular lines of effective communication between the Select Board and the committees and departments under its control. In theory, such a communications process exists; in practice inter-board communication appears to be in shambles.
This week, a breakdown in communication among the Select Board, the Hildreth House Phase 2 Subcommittee and the Permanent Building Committee was on full display. In the course of three meetings over the past week, the only thing that seems perfectly clear is that the Select Board has trouble effectively communicating its expectations and providing any sort of guidance.
The Phase 2 subcommittee worked closely with the Permanent Building Committee to develop its latest proposal and submitted its plans to the Capital Planning and Investment Committee by its Oct. 2 deadline. There is no evidence the Select Board ever asked either committee to provide regular reports on the design process. Nor has it been clear that board members wanted to be involved in design decisions in the first place. If they did, why didn’t they ask for updates? They knew about the CPIC request deadline. But when the PBC and Hildreth House Phase 2 representatives came to the Select Board meeting Oct. 8, board members unleashed a litany of complaints, even though they had yet to see the final design and supporting documents the COA had submitted to CPIC the previous week.
Beth Williams, the COA board co-chair, told the Press she was beginning to feel like a pingpong ball. No wonder. From the beginning, the Permanent Building Committee said the architect should develop only one plan for the proposed Hildreth House addition. Now, the Select Board is saying it wants to see another plan, for an attached addition, rather than a separate building.
It’s a little late for that. If the Select Board wanted to have a say in design decisions, the time to speak up was four months ago.
