In a short, off-cycle meeting Monday, the Select Board sought to move forward on leasing Bromfield House as a residence for Afghan refugees. The board had approved that course of action on Jan. 4. The second step of the plan was to sell the house as a private residence at the end of the lease in about a year.
Terry Symula, who has helped organize housing for the refugees through the Ascentria Care Alliance, told the board the need for Bromfield House is urgent, as the lease for the refugees’ current housing expires at the end of March.
Since the Jan. 4 vote, Select Board member Erin McBee and Suzanne Poitras of the Bromfield Trust—along with lawyers for both groups—have been trying to work out a joint petition to the probate court. The court has the authority to judge whether the plan accords with the will of Margaret Bromfield Blanchard, who built the house as a residence for the head of the Bromfield School.
Urged by Chair Stu Sklar to get the process moving, the Select Board voted 4-0 in favor of two motions—one to petition the court jointly with the Bromfield trustees, and the second for the Select Board to petition the court on its own. The first motion required the Bromfield trustees to respond by Thursday, March 10, at the close of the business day. Both motions passed 4-0. (Select Board member Kara Minar was absent.)
McBee said the Bromfield trustees would not join a petition unless it included an agreement on what to do with money from the eventual sale of Bromfield House. So several Select Board members proposed that the petitions say that question would be negotiated later among the Select Board, the Bromfield trustees, and the School Committee, subject to the approval of the probate court; that provision was included in each motion
