Town manager search committee vote challenged

Town manager search committee vote challenged
Complaint says picks made in violation of open meeting law
‘They need to be transparent.’ — Kevin Miller

Damien Fisher
News Staff Writer

WINCHENDON — The Board of Selectmen has 14 days to remedy what one resident is calling an open meeting law violation for the way the board picked members of the Town Manager Search Committee.

“It appeared to me to be a clear and obvious violation of the open meeting law,” said Kevin Miller on Thursday in an interview about a complaint he has filed with the board.

Mr. Miller filed his complaint this week following Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, during which Dave Romanowksi, M.J. Galat, Jason Moury, Jessica Murdock, Felicia Nurmsen, Ruth DeAmicis and Burton Gould were named to the committee that will help find the next town manager.

The selection of the seven committee members during Monday’s meeting did not include a public vote, nor any public discussion. Instead, the board took a 10-minute recess to tabulate secret ballot votes that had already occurred outside of the meeting.

“This was a secret vote and decision, taken in private, outside the view of the public,” Mr. Miller wrote in his complaint. “This action appears to be deliberate and prearranged in that there was no discussion or debate of the process, of or with the applicants, or of the results.”

The selectmen had 10 candidates who sent in letters of interest about serving on the search committee, and Mr. Miller is one of the candidates passed over. He said that his reaction to the way the committee was selected would be the same if he were picked.


“If I had been secretly elected, I still would have filed,” Mr. Miller said Thursday. “I would not want to be part of a committee that’s not valid.”

Mr. Miller said that under Massachusetts law, the current committee is invalid, and any work it does is invalid. He wants to see the selectmen dissolve the committee and hold an open vote with open deliberations at its next meeting. Selectmen are set to meet again on Aug. 10, inside the 14-business-day time period in which they have to respond to Mr. Miller’s complaint.

If the board does not remedy the situation, Mr. Miller plans to take his complaint to the Massachusetts attorney general.
“They need to be transparent,” Mr. Miller said.

Reached Thursday night, selectmen Chairman Michael Barbaro said he is not sure if the board did anything wrong, but that the situation will be dealt with appropriately.

“We sent (Mr. Miller’s complaint) off to legal counsel, and if there was a mistake made it will be corrected at the next meeting,” Mr. Barbaro said.

Mr. Barbaro said that the selectmen will retake the vote made Monday night during the public session of the upcoming Aug. 10 meeting.

Winchendon is currently working with an acting town manager, Bernie Lynch. Mr. Lynch is able to serve for a maximum of six months under that town’s charter, meaning the town needs to find a permanent replacement by November, when Mr. Lynch’s maximum term expires.

Mr. Lynch is filling in as town manager after the town voted to give a $300,000 severance package to former longtime Town Manager James Kreidler over fears that he would sue the town should he be fired without cause. Four current members of the Board of Selectmen — Mr. Barbaro, Amy Salter, Barbara Anderson and Austin Cyganiewicz — ran for office on the platform that Mr. Kreidler should be fired for the town’s $3.4 million deficit, despite the Massachusetts Department of revenue stating that Mr. Kreidler was not to blame.

The search committee selected Monday night includes Ms. Nurmsen, who is one of the leaders of the political action group Stand Up For Toy Town, which worked to remove Mr. Kreidler from office. Mr. Gould is a former selectman who was recalled from office in 2010 amid allegations he violated the town charter. Mr. Gould was a longtime foe of Mr. Kreidler.