Comments by Selectboard Chairman Gary von Stange via email on Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Over the past two years the Selectboard (SB) instituted several measures to foster an
environment of openness and transparency, to foster dialogue between town boards, and to
encourage civility at meetings. Previously, only SB members received documents relating to
agenda items. Now, we have (i) town-wide information - everything the SB receives is
available to everyone in town through annotated agendas, posted on the town web site, Front
Porch Forum (FPF), and offered through an email distribution list, which include all the
materials the SB receives on every item, (ii) Weekly Manager Reports posted on the town
web site, FPF, and offered through an email distribution list, (iii) seminars to help educate
our boards so that every volunteer can learn about Open Meeting Laws, Public Documents,
Ethics, Disclosures and Recusals, when to recuse and when it would be inappropriate to do
so, (iv) Commission, Board and Committee Reports - to foster dialogue between boards,
(v) Rules of Procedure that do not permit cross-examination of someone coming before the
board with all questions and comments directed to the board, (vi) an Amended Ethics and
Conflict of Interest Ordinance, which purpose is to establish standards of conduct and
guidance, serving as a statement to define and codify the Towns expectations and
requirements for ethical behavior of its public officials. This helps ensure that town board
members are independent, impartial, and responsible, free from conflicts of interest. And it
fosters an environment where everyone is treated fairly and equally, without special
advantage, and (vii) a new Town Web Site launched in April 2015 that is user friendly and
interactive opening town government for all residents. It includes an online calendar of
events.
We want all residents to have the same information we have. We have to be open and
transparent. And for years, particularly due to these changes, the Selectboard has been
civil. Board members have been respectful, all have had an opportunity to speak and
the board has been productive.
Colleen Parker and John Kerr are on their third and second years on the board
respectively. I am on my eighth year. Working with Colleen and John has been a
joy. They are productive, intelligent, compassionate, prepared and without hesitation
they embrace civility. In March 2016, two new members were elected to the SB. One
of the new members, Jerry Story, is professional, understands civility and has been
productive.
However, the board is comprised of five members. During the past three months, the
SB, the Town Manager, staff, town residents, town volunteers and those coming
before the board have witnessed and been subject to the fifth members temper
tantrums, his excessively loud yelling and screaming in public and during private
discussions, his disruptive and unproductive behavior, his interruptions and refusal to
let others speak even when recognized by the Chair, his extremely time-consuming,
self-serving comments, his inappropriate cross-examinations of those coming before
the board, his substantive and procedural ignorance of items being discussed and his
over-the-top hostility.

There have been legitimate concerns raised relating to and arising from this members
repeated angry tantrums. When will the next tantrum take place and in what form will
it occur. One board member, subject during a televised public meeting of having the
fifth board member without warning yell within inches of her, no longer feels safe
walking to her car alone after an evening meeting, nor does she feel comfortable
sitting next to the fifth board member. As a result, as Chair, I now make sure she has
an escort and I have rearranged board seating so the fifth member no longer sits
alongside her.
On April 16th, the SB held a retreat during which relationship between the SB and the
Town Manager was discussed and an action plan agreed-upon to try to address
tensions. It was agreed that each of the five board members would immediately speak
to the Town Manager in person. Within days, four of the five board members lived up
to that agreement. Six weeks later, the fifth member still has not lived up to the
agreement. In fact, the fifth board member refuses to speak with the Town Manager at
all.
I have been told that other members of the Board have individually reached out to the
fifth member to encourage cooperation, to ask that he end his hostility and negativity
and to plea for basic civility. The requests have fallen on deaf ears.
While the fifth member has sought to frame the issue as a difference in style, it is
not. It is difference in civility, in productivity, in performance and in conduct.
Gary von Stange
Chair, Shelburne Selectboard