IHL

This article may not be legal. there have been many cases where Town employees across the Commonwealth have served on Town boards. How do you curtail the rights of an individual to run for office?

Isn't there a police officer on the Plymouth BoS? I can remember some years ago a schoolteacher in a suburban boston town got herself elected to the BoS. The BoS tried to isolate her and prevent her from voting: she showed up at meetings wearing handcuffs.

What about very small Towns? Like Monroe  -  population 175 +/-. (it is on the vermont border, next to Rowe, where the nuclear power plant used to be).

and what about State employees? The State has tried to discourage its employees from serving as local elected officials, for obvious reasons. Yet, there is the fellow who served on the Board of Assessors (elected) in central Mass., and the fellow who is serving on the City Council in a small western Mass. city. If a wareham resident who is a State employee opts to run for office in the town, should he/she be banned?

Another bit of bad policy. vote it down.

When I was elected Selectman, we were Police Commissioners. I could not serve as a Police Officer and a Selectman for obvious reasons.
Things have changed. I can't see any reason why a Town Employee can't run for public office unless they are an employee of the same Dept.
I think Nota may be right about that...the member can always abstain.

PLEASE vote this down.

Save Wareham

DanO,

there are some questions here, for sure. BUT, they should be handled by the voters. For example: if a candidate for the BoS would have to recuse him/her self from a large number of votes that come before the Board, then what is the point? Again, this is a question for the voters.

A few years ago, the Boston Globe ran a piece about the Town of Mendon, located just west of I-495 near Milford, Bellingham, Franklin, etc. Now, try to follow the bouncing ball.

1. The full-time assessor worked for the Board of assessors.
2. the building inspector was an elected member of the Board of Assessors, thus the Assessor's boss.
3. the full-time assessor was an elected member of the Board of Selectmen.
4. the building Inspector worked for the Board of Selectmen; therefore, the full-time assessor was the building inspector's boss.

Got it?

You can't make this stuff up.

At some point, you have to defer to the common sense of the voters, Unless you are in Mendon, of course

Turn out the vote at town meeting and vote this garbage down.

Thanks Nota for the info.
I am stunned that this is happening so often...

ANOTHER ARTICAL WOULD HAVE A  NEWLY ELECTED BOARD OF SEWER COMMISIONERS  TAKEING THE POWER FROM THE SELECTMEN ,THERE WAS NEVER A PROBLEM WHEN PREVIOUS SELECTMEN WERE ON THE BOARD , THE PROBLEMS  DEVELOPED WHEN WE PUT IDIOTS ON THE BOARD , IF WE CHANGE THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE ,WILL BRUCE  AND BRENDA RUN FOR SEWER COMMISIONERS WHEN WE DEFEAT THERE ASSES AT THE POLES, THE PROBLEM WITH EVERTHING IN TOWN IS NOT CHANGING THINGS BUT CHANGEING THE IDIOTS ON WHAREHAMS SELECTMEN NAMELY BRENDA AND JANE , THEY ALSO WANT TO HAVE 7 SELECTMEN AND 7 SCHOOL COMMITEE  MEMBERS THUS DILUTING THE POWER OF PEOPLE WE PUT IN , THUS MAYBE WE WILL HAVE A DR JONES AS A MEMBER OF THE SEWER COMMISIONERS , DEFEAT THESE IDIOTS AND DISPAND THE CHARTER REVIEW COMMITEE.

Article 48
I too would like you and all to consider supporting the Article to elect Sewer Commissioners vs. the BOS members continuing to act as commissioners.

The science and technology is clearly well beyond comprehension for the average elected official.  As voters we will be able to assess all candidates qualifications and experience in hopes to better manage a $6+ Milion Enterprise, which requires more expertise. 

Wareham is rich with many qualified individuals so, if willing, we should allow them to serve.

bbrady wrote:

Article 48
I too would like you and all to consider supporting the Article to elect Sewer Commissioners vs. the BOS members continuing to act as commissioners.

I agree Bob..time to separate the BoS from this responsibility. IHL, what's to stop anyone from running for BoS, and then being Sewer Commissioner's as well? No, the "Sewer situation" in Wareham is a nightmare right now...and the former BoS did nothing except pit Sewer users vs Septic users in an attempt to garner votes. Let's get some qualified people in place, and hopefully they can attempt to fix what's been messed up.

TBW
P-SPAN

I think I would definitely support the separation between the BoS and the Sewer Commissioners - Nora brings up some very valid points.


BUT -

What bothers me about all of these Charter Change articles is that we haven't heard a whit about them until this current Warrant posted.  When the CRC began their quest to change the charter to a mayoral form, they were in every media outlet available.  They were around every corner you looked promoting their mayoral form of govt.  I chose to ignore them simply b/c I didn't believe they were going down the right path.

Now they have some pretty important changes yet again, some we've never heard about, heck I didn't even know they were meeting for that matter.  I would've loved to have attended one of their meetings to offer suggestions.

Good afternoon1 here is another interesting & informative discussion on this website...one hopes that many, many citizens of the Town get to read and/or participate.

first, I am in agreement that the time has come to divorce the sewer commissioners from the BoS. there may have been a time in the past when the combination made sense, but that time is gone. The system has grown, will continue to grow, and it needs a Board of its own.

second, there seems to be a recurring theme regarding pre-qualifying candidates for a Board of Sewer Commishes.  If this is to be an ELECTED board, then I do not believe it is possible in Massachusetts to REQUIRE a candidate for office to have any particular background and/or qualifications. Take the Board of health, for example, an elected Board in many Towns. Is there a requirement to be an MD, an RN, a soils engineer, an  epidemiologist, etc.? And yet, that Board may deal with issues appropriate to all of these specialists, and much more. The only board that I know where there is a requirement for serving is the Board of Assessors. The DOR requires that a member of the BoA meet certain minimum standards within two years of election/appointment. That is AFTER  election/appointment.

To me, the more important issue is to get intelligent, dedicated people to run for a seat on a Board of S/C. Technical issues should be handled by the department manager, or outside experts, if necessary. The Board should be more concerned with policy matters and/or political issues - such as the debate over combining phases to allocate costs differently. That is the type of issue for an elected Board   -   after reviewing technical input and citizen responses.

As for Sweet Brucie or the Brenduhzela running for this Board   -   why not? They have as much right as anyone else, do they not? Again, it is a question for the voters to decide. One hopes that the voters would do the right thing (I presume that you know where I stand on these individuals and others), but that is the always the risk in our system, is it not?

I would hope that the number of elected commissioners is reduced to three.
You can plainly see what happens when you have 5. Same for the BOS...Egos are hard to connect unless there is a small group and a big cause...