News that Devens has joined the Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project (CMMCP) and that MassDevelopment (MassDev) expects to begin mosquito treatments in early 2011 came as a surprise to the Harvard Board of Selectmen (BOS) last week.
This is “a quantum leap,” said selectman Tim Clark at Tuesday’s BOS meeting. “We left the conversation at one place and it has landed at another.”
The leaving-off place last July was the wait for a legal clarification that Devens could participate in the CMMCP. CMMCP requires towns to explicitly approve joining the program at a town meeting or corresponding governance. Earlier, the State Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board (SRMCB) that oversees the CMMCP had said the board did not have authority to approve Devens joining the mosquito program without a letter from the attorney general’s (AG) office that Devens could participate on its own accord, or approval from the surrounding towns with jurisdiction of the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone.
In May, in response to a MassDev request, the BOS agreed to say they had “no objections” to Devens pursuing a mosquito control plan, with two conditions: that MassDev obtain a letter from the AG’s office stating that MassDev had authority to join the CMMCP without approval from Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard; and a plan from MassDev and CMMCP addressing abutters’ concern that mosquito treatments and chemicals would not affect their property.
In July, the AG’s office responded to a letter from MassDev counsel Lee Small saying the AG could not give an opinion on the question because the AG office’s “statutory authority to render formal legal opinions extends only to opinion requests by state officials, district attorneys, and branches and committees of the legislature.” The letter suggested contacting the Department to Agricultural Resources, which includes Reclamation and Mosquito Control, the board that had earlier referred the matter to the AG.
Where the issue landed—Devens joining CMMCP—came in news announced to the Devens Community by George Ramirez, executive vice president of Devens operations, who reported that Devens Public Works would work with CMMCP to develop a mosquito treatment plan for Devens and share the plan with the Joint Boards of Selectmen, “answering questions and accepting public comments.” According to MassDev Chief of Staff Meg Delorier, authorization to move forward came from a letter from SRMCB counsel Bob Ritchie.
BOS Chairman Peter Warren said he would bring the issue to the Joint Boards of Selectmen and will put on the agenda a discussion of the “quantum leap” decision and the circuitous route by which that decision was reached.
