The Harvard Charter assigns responsibility for most committee appointments to the Select Board. The board’s recent appointments to the Community Preservation Committee raise questions about the wisdom of this policy.
Community Preservation Act funding is a townwide tax surcharge dedicated specifically to open space protection, historic preservation, affordable housing, and outdoor recreation. The town voted to increase the CPA surcharge to 3% last spring, to be augmented by state funds. The Community Preservation Committee is tasked with allocating these funds to activities falling within the allowed categories. Athletic fields are an allowed allocation for CPA funds under outdoor recreation.
Applicants for open seats on the CPC were recently interviewed by the Select Board. The board directly queried candidates on their position regarding using CPA funds for athletic fields. One candidate’s status as a parent of children who use athletic fields was remarked upon as a desirable attribute for committee membership. “Generational diversity” was cited as an aim in appointments to the committee, raising alarming concerns of not-so-veiled age discrimination. The Community Preservation Committee’s endorsed candidate was considered and disregarded, and an incumbent who had served productively for years was dismissed in favor of a newcomer, without explanation or justification.
The Community Preservation Committee is charged with allocating CPA funds as an independent body. A litmus test for appointments, implicit or explicit, sabotages the independence of the committee. Overriding committees’ recommendations for membership dilutes their authority. Rejecting qualified candidates deters volunteerism, as does seemingly arbitrary unseating of incumbents in the name of “new blood.”
CPA funds are our collective resources to be allocated according to the will of our town, not the will of the Select Board by stacking the committee. As members of town boards responsible for protecting open space (the Open Space Committee and Conservation Commission), we are concerned with these developments. Perhaps it is time to revert to elections for these important committee seats and allow the will of the people to dictate who sits on them and makes decisions for how our funds are spent.
Peter Dorward, Still River Road
Eve Wittenberg, Prospect Hill Road
Editor’s note: Eve Wittenberg is chair of the Conservation Commission; Peter Dorward chairs the Open Space Committee. A copy of this letter was sent to the Select Board.
