Residents may well see another proposal on the future of Bromfield House at Town Meeting in October. At their May 18 meeting, Select Board members agreed they needed to “regroup” after voters at Spring Town Meeting rejected a proposal to sell the 1915 house for removal but keep its land for later town use.
Select Board member Stu Sklar suggested presenting the same proposal as a ballot question. In a referendum, he said, a majority of voters might support removing the house and keeping the land.
But Town Administrator Tim Bragan said the law requires town meeting approval to sell town property. As an alternative, Bragan suggested a nonbinding referendum for a sense of voters’ wishes. The board seemed supportive of the idea but made no decision.
Select Board members voted unanimously to disband the Bromfield House Committee, which had finished its work by recommending the measure Town Meeting turned down. At the suggestion of Select Board member Rich Maiore, the board agreed to work directly with the School Committee, which also supports removing the house and keeping the land.
Maiore suggested asking the School Committee and the Parks and Recreation Commission to offer a specific plan for the land’s use, if the house were removed. Knowing how the land would be used, he said, was essential to winning voter approval to dispose of the house.
Another question that has plagued debate on Bromfield House is who would get the proceeds if the house and land were sold together, so that the house remained in its present location as a private residence. (Selling the house for removal is not likely to bring in any money.)
The proceeds would have to go for “educational purposes,” according to the will of Margaret Bromfield Blanchard, whose trust paid for both the Bromfield School and Bromfield House. But lawyers have debated for several years whether the School Committee or the Bromfield trustees would control how the funds were spent.
At retiring board member Lucy Wallace’s suggestion, the Select Board directed Bragan to ask town counsel to seek a court decree that would settle the issue. Having that information, Wallace said, would help the town make a decision.
