The Select Board will reconsider its recent vote to appoint new members to the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee, likely reappointing Victor Normand and replacing former Select Board member Lucy Wallace with a current member of the Select Board. Town Administrator Tim Bragan will remain the third member of Harvard’s delegation.
At last week’s meeting, the four Select Board members present—Chair Rich Maiore, Erin McBee, Kara Minar, and Don Ludwig—voted unanimously to replace Normand and Wallace with Maiore and Ludwig. But within minutes, members appeared confused as to which committee they had been voting for: Was it the Harvard-Devens Jurisdiction Committee or the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee? Later, it was determined that contrary to Select Board policy, neither Normand nor Wallace had been notified their terms were up for review or that they would not be reappointed.
“It wasn’t handled well,” Maiore told the Press in a recent phone call. “You can’t have board members not clear on what they’re voting for, even though I clarified it.” He added, “Let me be very clear, it had nothing to do with performance.” Rather the change had been motivated by a desire to ensure there was at least one Select Board member on the committee. “We’ve been reading about the jurisdiction committee in [the Press],” he said. “We thought someone from the board should be there.”
In a recent meeting, Normand agreed, noting that when the Devens framework committee was formed, he and then-Devens Executive Vice President Jessica Strunkin encouraged each town to include at least one select board member in its delegation. Shirley appointed Brian Sawyer, Ayer appointed Jannice Livingston, and Harvard appointed Wallace, who at the time was a member of the Harvard Select Board. She remained on the committee after she retired from the board in 2021.
Maiore said that at their upcoming strategy meeting on July 6, Select Board members will review the vote. “We want Victor to stay so we can all learn from him,” he said. Longer term, he said, it is important to bring younger members into the discussion, noting that it would be the next generation that decides what happens with Devens.
Normand told the Press that because no one has notified him otherwise, he will continue as co-chair of the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee and chair of the Harvard-Devens Jurisdiction Committee.
