In last week’s issue of the Press, comments made by me at the Sept. 22 Charter Commission meeting were reported incorrectly and warrant correction. I did not state that the Conservation Commission or the Zoning Board of Appeals contact us “only when they remember.” In fact, the opposite is true: They have contacted us regularly for years, thanks to the hard work of Land-Use Agent Liz Allard. What I did say is that with changes in personnel and volunteers at boards, however, there was a risk of that happening because the process was not written down.
In general, the cooperation is excellent, and if a charter is written, it should document the practices we have put in place so that confusion and omission of a committee or board is avoided. The Pond Committee has on occasion been inadvertently left out of discussions or reviews where it might have provided useful input.
One case that was avoided was the Sept. 22 meeting of the Charter Commission. If we had not proactively called Paul Cohen and asked to be invited, the committee would not have been at the meeting because our committee was not on the list of those asked to participate in this process. We were more than welcomed after calling.
At the meeting, I pointed out that there has been excellent coordination with the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission where Liz Allard has regularly invited us to comment on developments affecting Bare Hill Pond, and that over the years, we have had good communication with the Planning Board, which sought our input on the Master Plan and the Open Space Plan in prior review cycles. But this year, with a change in personnel, the Master Plan was nearly finished without sharing the draft for our input. We met with the town planner, who was new, and he did not know about the Pond Committee but then welcomed our comments.
Another example I shared was that when the Pond Committee sought enforcement of a violation of a ZBA order regarding removal of trees, there was confusion whether the committee, the zoning officer, or the Board of Selectmen had to make the request to the ZBA. None of this was deliberate but rather the result of not having established operating procedures for communication and coordination among boards and committees.
I hope this clears up any confusion. The last thing we should do is suggest that hardworking employees and volunteers are not doing things when they are.
Bruce A. Leicher, chairman
Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee
Editor’s note: The Press did indeed misquote Pond Committee Chairman Bruce Leicher in its report on the Sept. 22 meeting of the Charter Commission. What was actually said was the following: “ConCom actually invites us on all the permits [inaudible] ZBA. And Planning Board does, when they remember.”
