DEERFIELD — After two weeks of discussion about the ethics of town employees serving on regulatory boards, the Selectboard moved on with its fiscal year 2022 appointments for the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday.
Despite holding an additional meeting to talk about best practices for the town code of conduct regarding employees on regulatory boards, the Selectboard approved a controversial appointment to the ZBA Wednesday night under the condition that members continue to discuss and implement a policy in the future.
The appointments passed 2-0, with Selectboard member Carolyn Shores Ness abstaining because she felt she could not vote while they were still crafting a policy.
“I’m going to abstain,” Shores Ness said. “I really feel like we need to finish working on, and clarifying, our code of conduct.”
Selectboard Chair David Wolfram agreed the code of conduct needed to be revised because it is an “essential part of Deerfield.”
Both meetings this week were held without a period for public comment. Assistant Town Administrator Jennifer Gannett sent a Zoom message at Wednesday’s meeting saying town counsel advised against public comment because of possible legal issues.
Concerns were raised at meetings during the past month about a Deerfield police officer — Detective Sgt. Adam Sokoloski — serving on the ZBA because of the power dynamics of serving both in law enforcement and on a regulatory board. Sokoloski, who was reappointed, was not present at the meeting.
Resident Annie Curtis said barriers of privilege and power can discourage people from using their voice.
“I’m talking about standing in front of a board,” Curtis said at the June 22 meeting, “and how dynamics might affect how people feel comfortable, or uncomfortable, participating in democracy.”
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Selectboard member Trevor McDaniel said the discussion about best practices could not affect the ZBA appointments because the fiscal year ended June 30, leaving the seat needing to be filled for the next year, and the issue was only brought up recently.
“This needs to be completely separated from appointments tomorrow,” McDaniel said Tuesday. “I think we need to talk more about it. It obviously struck a chord in the community.”
McDaniel added he is concerned with both citizens’ rights and what is best for Deerfield given the lack of public interest in serving on town committees.
“I’m worried about the rights of taxpayers who live in this town,” McDaniel said. “I’m also worried about the unintended consequences of limiting expertise on boards. … I’m worried about limiting when there’s so few people who step up and serve.”
Shores Ness, who attended a webinar regarding best practices and shared the information with her fellow board members, said a best practices policy would need to cover all town employees.
“I would prefer to do it for all employees, not just the police,” Shores Ness said. “If we were going to single out the police, I wouldn’t want to do it without our police chief here.”
Wolfram said the town needs to walk a fine line because a best practices policy concerning town employees could cause unintended consequences.
“As Board of Selectmen we couldn’t work on the Board of Health (with a blanket ban),” Wolfram said Tuesday, referencing how the three Selectboard members all serve on the Board of Health, too. “We need to keep talking about it.”
Wednesday’s meeting added little to the discussion. When the time for appointments arrived, the Selectboard agreed to discuss a best practices policy for future use.
In other business, the Selectboard talked about the town employee code of conduct at Tuesday’s meeting. Members wanted to define what level of infraction warrants removal from a town position and wanted to provide “closure on public complaints.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.