HALIFAX — On April 5, the Selectboard appointed Turner Lewis and Kaitlin Stone to the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA), following its final closed-door interview with incumbent Linda Lyon.
The nominations prompted a tense discussion about why the board chose these candidates over Lyon and Stephan Chait, the two board members who were seeking reappointment.
The shakeup in the board composition followed months of local controversy over the ZBA's denial of an application for a conditional use in the town conservation district for a schist quarry proposed jointly by property owner C.A. Denison Lumber Co., Inc. and Ashfield Stone L.L.C.
Chait and Lyon were two of the three board members who voted to deny the application for the 1,210-acre parcel at 5076 Jacksonville Stage Rd.
Doug Grob, who just finished his eight-month interim appointment to the Selectboard, opened the discussion by urging the board to consider reappointing Chait.
“He is a great asset to this town, and I think it would be unwise [...] to just ignore the fact that we've got somebody that knows a lot more about this than any of us here,” Grob said. “I think he's got to be nominated for this position.”
Paul Taylor, an abutter of the property for which the quarry was proposed and one of the named parties opposing the project, echoed the sentiment with respect to Lyon. He asked directly about the criteria the board employed to reach its decision.
“I'm assuming that you're making your choices or you will make your choice based on qualifications and not personality,” said Taylor.
He then asked, “I'd be interested in knowing how you feel the qualifications of the folks being nominated exceed those of Ms. Lyon and Mr. Chait. How are they superior?”
Sumner said, “Well, we interviewed them all.”
“That's no answer,” Taylor said.
Sumner repeated that they had interviewed all the candidates. After a long pause, he added, “I know there's a lot of people in town that are a little upset about the way the decision went on the zoning board, so ...,” he said, trailing off.
After an equally long pause, Taylor asked, “That's it?”
Board member Mitch Green denied that the board would have voted differently had Chait and Lyon voted to approve the project.
But Sumner responded, “Well, it's costing the town a lot of money. It already has, and we haven't even gotten to the court yet. And I know there's a lot of people in town have said to me, 'Maybe we ought to send the bill to the people that were against the quarry.'”
“Or you could send it to Mr. Denison for causing all of this in the first place,” countered Janet Taylor, also an abutter and named party opposing the quarry.
“I don't think he caused this, and that's your personal opinion,” Peggy Rafus responded.
One of the original five candidates for the open positions on the Planning Commission/ZBA, Rafus, whose husband, Brad, serves on the Selectboard, withdrew herself from consideration prior to being interviewed, Sumner later clarified to The Commons.
Grob said that, while some people are unhappy with the ZBA's decision, it might not be a majority of residents, since new zoning bylaws - under which the quarry project would still be disqualified - were adopted by 167–145 vote at Annual Town Meeting on March 1.
Among other changes, the bylaws now make explicit that quarrying operations for private use are permitted in all districts in town, including the conservation district. Quarrying operations for commercial use are permitted only in the rural residential and village districts.
But the thrust of Grob's comment was his suspicion that the Selectboard wants to eliminate all zoning in town and were nominating individuals who shared that view.
Sumner disagreed.
“How can you say that? That's a personal opinion,” Peggy Rafus said.
“I think it's our job to make a decision of who we put on the board,” Green said. “It doesn't necessarily have to be the most qualified person. It's the people we decide that we want to put on.”
“I respect the process and you have a right to make the decision,” Taylor said. “But it seems that you ought to be able to explain what the decision was based on rather than just pulling it out of the air. What are the qualifications of these people that make them the logical choice? You've got to base it on something.”
Peggy Rafus said that without written guidelines about qualifications for board participation, “that shouldn't be an area of discussion.”
Green said that the only requirement was that the majority of the board be made up of Halifax residents.
Mike Fournier, a member of the road crew and Stone's fiancé, later made the point that people's qualifications might not necessarily predict the quality of their work.
Fournier said, that in his view, Grob was “not the most qualified person” who applied for the position of interim Selectboard member last summer, “but he did, in my opinion, my opinion only, he did an extraordinary job as selectman. It's too bad he didn't run longer [because] he did do an awesome job even if he weren't the most qualified.”
In addition to Stone's being the daughter and fiancé of two respective members of the road crew in this deeply divided town, the ties among the families that can trace their Halifax roots back several generations are especially strong.
In response to a question from The Commons, board members Sumner, Green, and Brad Rafus declined to respond to the concern that Stone's appointment, at least, could be seen as based wholly or partially on friendship.
Peggy Rafus said she resented the suggestion that “everyone is playing favorites.”
Fournier challenged any assumption that just because he and board member Rafus work together on the road crew, that they spend time together outside of work.
New appointees: Stone and Lewis
Because the interviews had been done in executive session, the public had not, at this point, had an opportunity to hear from the candidates directly. This discussion drew Kaitlin Stone to her feet.
In a clear voice but one laced with anger, she introduced herself as a proud 23-year old with a lot to learn and a commitment to do so.
Stone, whose grandfather, Jim Stone, was town treasurer for 53 years and whose great-grandfather served as a justice of the peace, said that she and Fournier were in the process of “building a house [in Halifax] so I plan on living my life here.”
“So I plan on getting involved and learning,” she said. “And this is something I wanted to do so I could help my town out and get involved.”
“I'm not doing this to piss all of you off. I'm not doing this to make you upset. I'm doing this because I want to learn and do something for my town.” She concluded that her interest has nothing to do with any relationship with the Rafus family.
At that, the Selectboard voted on the appointments and moved on to other matters.
Reached by phone a few days later, Turner Lewis said that he wasn't able to attend the meeting because he is an avid fan of women's basketball and had the good fortune to be in Indianapolis to attend the women's NCAA Final Four tournament.
He acknowledged, however, that he hadn't known when or how the Selectboard was going to make its appointment and thus might not have attended the meeting even if he had been home - indeed, he hadn't realized there were five people vying for two seats until the night he was interviewed.
Lewis said he was pleased to have the opportunity to serve his adopted home - he and his wife relocated to Halifax from the Boston area in 2009. He said that if the board had chosen otherwise, he would have found some other way to serve.
While he doesn't have any particular experience with zoning or planning, “My philosophy is to always [be] putting something back into the community.”
That philosophy has led to him being actively involved in the Rotary Club, and to serve on the boards of municipal, educational, and business organizations. And it has taken him beyond the boardroom to the wilds of Alaska as well.
Lewis, a retired veterinarian, has volunteered as an Iditarod veterinarian for the last 20 years. His voice grew animated as he described the deep satisfaction of caring for athletic dogs at their peak performance, and for their mushers, who are often running on empty.
Back on the issue of municipal zoning, he expressed confidence that he won't be “swayed by things” and his commitment to making sure that everything is done legally, by the books.
The outgoing appointees
Jesse Ferland, who also has party status in the ongoing legal proceedings involving the quarry, offered a statement of appreciation about outgoing appointees Chait and Lyon, who both stepped onto the boards to fill midterm vacancies.
Ferland cited the amount of time they devoted to the position and their temperament under the pressure of heated debate.
“Oftentimes in town government like this, you take positions that you know are going to cause some controversy,” he said. “And not at any time have I heard them raise their voice to whoever was in opposition to them. They listened. They took notes, and they took that into account when they made their decisions.”
Chait, who used to work on capital projects for the University of Massachusetts, was appointed in August 2014 just before the first hearing of the Act 250 Environmental Commission on the Denison/Ashfield Stone quarry application.
Lyon, who spent 30 years working for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, drafting and enforcing environmental regulations, was appointed in April 2015 just before the ZBA hearings on the quarry proponents' application for a conditional use permit.
Chait and Lyon were also involved in the Planning Commission's recent, grant-funded work with Windham Regional Commission on the comprehensive update of the zoning bylaws and, since February, in the statutorily mandated steps in response to a public petition to repeal all town zoning.
The last word
At the very end of the meeting, Wayne Courser, longtime Halifax fire chief, asked to read a letter he'd written that he described as “short” but maybe not so “sweet.”
He said he was “very pleased” with the results of the vote for Selectboard at town meeting, and that he believes that all three board members “have good judgment and have common sense.”
But the letter went on: “I have not attended many meetings or hearings. But what few I have, it's not hard to pick out the people to watch out for.
“I hope the selectmen can, also.”