HomeMy WebLinkAbout_09172018-6563Town Government Study Committee
Minutes of the meeting of September 17, 2018. The meeting took place in the Wannacomet Water
Company, 1 Milestone Road, Nantucket, MA 02554. Members of the committee present were: Curtis
Barnes, John Brescher, Kristie Ferrantella, Rich Atherton and Tucker Holland. Linda Williams arrived at
1:57. Also Present: Michael Pearson
1. Chair John Brescher called the meeting to order at 1:37 with a quorum.
2. Agenda: Curtis Barnes moved approval of the agenda, seconded by Tucker Holland. All voted in
favor
3. Minutes: Curtis moved to make a change in the minutes of the August 30th minutes, as the start
time was incorrectly recorded. Rick approved the motion to change the meeting start time to
10:30am, Curtis 2nd, All approved.
4. Public Comment: None.
5. Discussion with Michael Pearson re: “Government Maladministration and its Remedies”.
Michael practices law here on Nantucket and over the past 12 months had had trouble with the
Town of Nantucket. He has spoken with Theresa Williams previously, who also came and talked
with the TGSC, and wanted to bring his issue to our attention. Most governments have a checks
and balances but Mr. Pearson feels our Town Charter does not have any judiciary checks or
balances at the local level. The Charter leaves all issues to District Court or Superior Court but
has no local organization or body to report to. Mr. Pearson presented the committee with an
article on Maladministration and the approach to combat it in the UK. Maladministration is
when the government is mismanaged or is not communicating with the public correctly. This
includes not responding to emails or failing to follow through on promises. Mr. Pearson
demonstrated that in Maidstone, UK, they created a separate body that dealt with
maladministration. This body provides remedies to citizens. Currently, if you have an issue with
a town employee, you can only report that to the employee’s boss or Town Administration, but
if your problem is with Town Admin, there is no one to report it to.
Mr. Pearson provided background on his current situation. In summary, the person he is
representing has had poor communication and action by the Health Department, Board of
Health, and Town Admin. This includes lack of responses, incorrect minutes from meetings, and
lack of follow through with funds owed to his client. Mr. Pearson feels that our boards are not
well trained to take on the responsibility and actions that they need to.
In summary, there is a hole in our checks and balances. Mr. Pearson suggested implementing an
ombudsman, or a person appointed to investigate complains of maladministration. Linda
Williams suggested that this is a position the Select Board may have to get involved in, rather
than the TGSC. We have spoken in several meetings with Town Council and it may not be the
role of TGSC to implement. We will continue investigating if this is a charter change.
Linda notified Mr. Pearson of our citizen complaint form. Mr. Pearson said it is not efficient to
complain to the department in which you have the issue with. Mr. Atherton suggested going to
the Select Board. Mr. Pearson said he had the same lack of response from the Select Board. John
asked what the process would be if there was an issue with Town Admin. We will ask Lauren
Goldberg.
In conclusion, Mr. Pearson felt having an ombudsman or similar committee board to report
cases of maladministration would “sharpen” up the boards and employees and hold them
accountable.
6. Other business: The TGSC would like to hold a public forum on October 25th. John will put an ad
in the paper.
Rick handed out a working list of everything we’ve discussed so far
We need to look at other Town’s organization structure
7. Next Meeting: October 1 at 3pm.
8. Tucker Holland made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Rick, all voted in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kristie Ferrantella