Selectmen Affirm Need For Mediator to Mend Board Discord; Set Date For 'Workshop'

Acting on Chairman Degen's proposal, Selectmen discussed hiring a mediator to facilitate their work together, a mediator to show them how to work cooperatively, to teach them how to avoid interpersonal conflicts, conflicts that have riven the Board for many months, ultimately turning some board meetings into something more like afternoon soap operas than meetings of municipal government.

Chairman Degen opened the discussion by suggesting a mediator, the town administrator of the town of Franklin, a man with experience in mediation. Stuart Schulman said that if the board engages a mediator, "we need someone well versed in conflict management." Peter Cunnigham weighed in that the board needed someone who understands municipal boards and how a Board of Selectmen operates.

Before deciding on a particular mediator, Selectman Petropoulos said, 'I believe we need to sit down first and figure out what that issue is, how we're actually going to approach this problem. I don't think we can do it in a ten-minute agenda item." He added that he felt the board should sit down in a workshop setting to figure out how to approach the problem. Anna Eliot added emphatically, "Doing something is very important."

Discussing his preferred approach, Selectman Degen said, "I think we need a social worker more than anything. We need someone with a background in interpersonal relations and interpersonal dynamics that will be able to take into account all the various concerns that we all have and the inability for us to get along on certain issues while we get along on others." He added that the board needed someone to help identify the Board's strengths and weaknesses with the goal of getting the board members to work together.

Bucking the trend of the conversation, Peter Cunningham asked rhetorically, 'Do we agree there's a problem for starters?

Selectman Schulman agreed with the consensus view saying, "I think everyone is saying more ore less the same thing." He added that before choosing to mediate, the board should agree on an approach and come up with a plan.

To that end, Selectmen agreed to meet for a 'workshop' for the Board to decide on an approach to define and find a solution to work together. The workshop will be held Thursday, April 2 at 5:30 in the main meeting room in Town Hall.