I read the minutes of months of selectmen meetings to prep for Tuesday’s BOS meeting. I was reassured: at almost every meeting since June the BOS struggled with how to proceed, stressing the importance of public involvement.
E.g., June 6, 2014: Tim Bragan said: “Any decision to lease office space would require a vote at Town Meeting.” August 5: “Ron Ricci is interested in the board presenting some concepts to the town along with seeking ideas and specific guidance from the public.” August 19: “Ricci was adamant a STM needs to be held before we go any further. Blair was in agreement. Wallace suggested the BOS hold a Q&A session in the fall to give the public an opportunity to become informed on choices and express their preferences or concerns. She felt a vote at a fall STM without giving the public information would not be useful.”
But reassurance turned into dissociation, as if real me in real Harvard watched shadow me in shadow Harvard. This was new; I now understand it. In real Harvard the BOS has resolutely kept the voters in the dark; in fact, the charge to the new Town Hall Construction Committee, appointed Tuesday night, specifies that it “shall not schedule any public forums or engage in any public outreach without the specific prior approval of the BOS.”
When asked about the lack of public outreach, Tim Bragan said that Town Hall was discussed at almost every BOS meeting, and they’re public. Lucy Wallace said, about the lack of public efforts to contact the BOS, “You can lead a horse to water ….” This, of course, turns the notion of public “outreach” on its head: the public must reach out to the BOS.
This contempt—no weaker word will do—for the public is appalling.
I retain some hope that the BOS will present a plan at STM that I could support. Such a plan would update the building, implementing recommendations of the Holland report and bringing the building up to code. It would make clear that any space rental is temporary, with the intention of moving employees back.
Billy Salter
Elm Street
