• FinCom chairman Finamore admits stalling budget passage at Webster town meeting

• By Brian Lee
  Telegram & Gazette Staff

  
  Posted Jun. 8, 2016 at 8:31 PM
  Updated Jun 8, 2016 at 9:32 PM
  
  

  WEBSTER - Finance Committee Chairman Michael Finamore admitted Wednesday he intentionally stalled passage of the town's $40.4 million budget Monday, out of dissatisfaction with the administration.

  Business began with voters taking up nine articles during a special town meeting that began at 6:30 p.m., followed immediately by the 12-article annual town meeting, which wrapped up about 11 p.m. Mr. Finamore peppered the meeting by placing "holds" on budget line items. He left after a two-thirds vote limited debate.

  "In all fairness to the residents of the town of Webster," he said, "it was my intention to prolong it until there was no quorum, so that the meeting would have to adjourn until June 26, to allow the townspeople to see the budget, to know how much more it was going to cost them, and I succeeded (when the meeting for a short time dipped below the quorum of 61 voters), and still got blown out of the water. There was a lack of quorum at the end and they still went ahead. It was a deliberate, orchestrated attempt on my part, after I saw what the town employees and interim town administrator was doing. Yes. I’ll freely admit to that."

  Mr. Finamore accused the administration of not finalizing the budget until the last hour. But acting Town Administrator Pamela A. Leduc attempted to explain what she said were minor changes to the budget during a Finance Committee meeting on Thursday. She's said the committee prevented her from doing so.

  Board of Selectmen Vice Chairman Randall V. Becker said of Monday's actions: "I think everyone would agree it was a very dysfunctional meeting, and a meeting that took much longer than it needed to take, because of some of the tactics that were used by the Finance Committee chairman."

  Mr. Becker said there are educated and dedicated individuals on the committee, but unfortunately, a minority of members foster a dysfunctional relationship with the acting administrator, selectmen, and even some town departments.

  Mr. Becker said he would like to see selectmen and Finance Committee members meet and find a way to develop a better working relationship.

  "We can’t continue where we are today," he said. "The relationship between the groups has reached a low, and it’s only up from here."

  Mr. Becker suggested that the finance board had ample time to make recommendations concerning the budget during the course of several meetings since the budget was introduced in March. The Thursday meeting "divulged into a personal attack" against the acting administrator, the selectman said.

  Finance Committee member Joseph Beresik, meanwhile, argued on the town meeting floor that Ms. Leduc should serve as more of a placeholder, and not be creating and filling positions as acting administrator, to which Mr. Becker said, "Work still has to get done. Time doesn’t stop for a year waiting for a new administrator to get hired. The town is like a business."

  Town Moderator Thomas V. Ralph called the lengthy meeting "a good exercise for everybody," and an example of what makes town meetings Democratic.

  "The bylaws we have and the town meeting time govern the meeting," Mr. Ralph said, noting that in Egremont, a limited number of voters also prolonged its town meeting.

  Mr. Ralph added: "You have the right to walk into town meeting and question your town's expenditures. Town meeting is the funding arm of the town. Nobody else can do it."