JBOS Chairman Jim Fay of Ayer proposed at the Feb. 24 meeting of the Joint Boards of Selectmen that JBOS form a governance subcommittee made up of seven members—five permanent, and two alternate—and to charge that subcommittee with delivering an action plan for interim governance of Devens no later than June 30, 2013. That date is more than two years before the 2015 deadline currently suggested by the JBOS mission statement.
Fay told the board, “We already backed it up to 2015 [from 2033 as set by Chapter 498] and now I’m backing up even further so that we can get it going.” Fay suggested that the board identify the cost of [managing] Devens Regional Enterprise Zone (DREZ) operations for each stakeholder, propose an implementation date for an interim government structure, and submit the proposed legislation first to JBOS for approval and then to the state legislature. Fay assumed that MassDevelopment would continue in its role as developer during this process.
Harvard Selectwoman and JBOS member Marie Sobalvarro asked, “Would this be a disposition recommendation?” Fay replied, “Yes, it would be a recommendation by the JBOS to the legislature.”
Sobalvarro said, “We have to take this back to our boards… and decide whether we want to do this or something else.”
The board voted to take Fay’s suggestions back to their respective boards for discussion.
