Come November, Town Meeting members will once again have the opportunity to consider increasing the Select Board from three to five members.
The question was last raised in 2018 following a report to the Town Meeting, in which a committee studying the board’s size voted 9-4 to recommend its passage. However, the article was defeated by Town Meeting members, with 55 in favor and 170 opposed.
On Tuesday night, the Select Board voted to open and close the warrant for a special Town Meeting, with the citizens’ petition on the agenda. The meeting, scheduled for three consecutive nights, begins Nov. 18.
“It’s a good thing to talk about again,” said Paul Rickter, who served as chair of the committee that studied the change in 2018. “There are new people, and … it’s totally fair to talk about it again.”
Speaking at a Select Board meeting Tuesday night, Chair Elizabeth Dionne said she is remaining “somewhat neutral” on the topic, though she cited her concern that it felt premature; Vice Chair Matt Taylor agreed with Dionne, adding it may be helpful in the absence of an updated study, to put together a fact sheet for Town Meeting. Member Roy Epstein reiterated the petition’s failure in 2018 and noted the implications of the change on the administrator’s office and how the Select Board functions.
According to Paul Joy, who submitted the citizens’ petition on Oct. 7, more than 260 signatures were gathered earlier this fall to support the petition.
According to Joy, if the change is supported by a special Town Meeting, it would still require approval by the state Legislature. Per the language of the home rule petition, at the next annual town election following at least 65 days after the effective date of the act, “one additional member shall be elected to an initial two-year term and an additional member shall be elected to a three-year term.” No more than two members would have terms that run concurrently.
“We feel that a five-person Select Board will improve the governing capacity of the town,” said Joy. “By expanding the board, Belmont can ensure more diverse perspectives and decisions, which ultimately leads to better decision making.”
However, the request — despite support for the citizens’ petition with the proposal — is not without criticism from past board members.
“Issues Belmont may have had had nothing to do with the number on the Select Board,” said Adam Dash, a former Select Board member. “I’m concerned about the inefficiency of having extra people. I’m concerned about the impact on the town administrator’s office.”
With each member of the board communicating daily — sometimes multiple times a day — with administrators, the change will just “suck up more of [the town administrator’s] time,” according to Dash. Town Administrator Patrice Garvin confirmed that additional staffing would be required to support an expanded board.
Additionally, Select Board members are entitled to the town’s health insurance, which adds to the cost of such a change, according to Dash. Meetings, too, may get longer as each board member will have the opportunity to speak to each matter on the agenda.
Former Select Board member Mark Paolillo also said he’s not convinced the measure makes sense.
“It feels hurried and rushed,” he said.
As it is, he noted, the town often can’t get candidates to run for open seats in town government.
“I think contested elections are good because it gets you to talk about the issues that are concerns of the community,” he said.
Joy, however, said a five-member board would be more in line with towns with similar populations to Belmont. Nearby Lexington, Acton, Concord, Reading, and Westford have five-member boards. According to Carol Berberian, who helped Joy collect signatures, a larger Select Board would also improve communication between the board — two members would no longer constitute a quorum — and the community.
“I would say that it is contrary to transparency,” Dash said. “I don’t think it’s helpful, I don’t think that’s a good thing. I think two Select Board members getting together … to move some item ahead and to peel off another vote from the other five — I think you’re going to create factions on the board.”
Paollilo also expressed concerns about transparency.
“If we’re going to look at town government, let’s look at it more broadly, which includes looking at how the town administrator positions and how that’s organized, and the Select Board, and how that’s organized,” he said. “Frankly, I’ve not heard any compelling reasons [for the expansion.].
The 2018 Vote
The impact on the town administrator’s office was one of the sticking points during the 2018 discussions, with voices against the expansion citing the expected impact on the administrator’s office.
“This is not one thing in isolation,” Rickter said. “I think, historically, there have been proposals from time to time to change various aspects of town government, and sometimes we don’t make a change because we shouldn’t be making that change without making that other change.”
I’m not sure we’re ready to make this change without thinking about the other,” he added, speaking about the need to add support in the town administrator’s office to support a five-member board.
Rickter said he looks forward to the debate on the Town Meeting floor, where he will make up his mind on which way to vote. In 2018, one of the more compelling arguments for him was the greater representation a larger board might offer the town.
“I think there was a lot of sense that with five, you’d have a higher likelihood of different populations in the town would see themselves represented on the Select Board — politically, culturally, gender,” he said. “There’s a chance the town leadership would feel more inclusive.”
Other arguments on both sides, however — the ability for board members to speak outside of public forums or the lack of qualified candidates to fill a five-member board — were less convincing, he said.
Though he attended the 2018 Town Meeting in support of the change, the large number of people who spoke against it ultimately swayed his decision to vote no.
“I think there’s a majority of town meeting members who weren’t on Town Meeting then,” he said. “There’s something to be said for seeing whether that mood has changed.”
