In the End He Will Do What Is Best for the Town
State Representative Elect Marc Lombardo is taking a week or so to mull over whether to hold onto his seat on the Billerica Board of Selectmen until 2011. It is a decision that he won’t make lightly because it has consequence to the town.
If Marc retains his seat into 2011, there will be consequences that come from having 4 members on the Board of Selectmen deciding issues that come before the town. If he resigns before 2011, the third place finisher in our most recent election, Paul Marasco, will assume his seat and duties under town bylaws, and the board will have its usual and customary 5 active members.
Mr. Marasco, if elevated to the Board of Selectmen will have to run to retain the seat he inherited this April; so, he will only have 5 months or so to participate. We just completed the Fall Town Meeting and the Spring Town Meeting will occur after the election.
With that as a given, the Board of Selectmen will be faced with its usual and customary business. So the resolution comes down to answering one question. Is Billerica best served with a partial board or full representation? The prudent thing to do is to have the Board fully staffed represented through the remainder of the election cycle.
Politics should not be a factor in the decision. I believe that Marc’s time will be better spent examining the looming issues and bills facing the legislature on their return and acclimating himself to Beacon Hill. I also believe that this course also puts Marc in a position to better serve Billerica from day one.
By placing Mr. Marasco into the seat about to be vacated gives him time to acclimate to the Board and become familiar with BOS protocols, procedures and requirements. Placing Mr. Marasco onto the Board of Selectmen, as an interim appointee does not guarantee that he will retain the seat, and with only 5 months left before the election, I fail to see it giving him the usual incumbent’s advantage.
Selectmen Rosa has no preference as to how Marc decides how to handle the matter. Mr. Accomando, who will also be running for a seat in April also voiced no objection to Mr. Marasco being seated. No comments have been forthcoming from Mr. Deslaurier or from Mr. Correnti, but it would be nice to hear from them.
Speaking of nice to hear; it would also be nice to hear why only Selectman Correnti attended the EPA presentation regarding the plan to finally clean up the superfund site at Iron Horse Park. Not a single member of the Board of Health attended. Perhaps, the BOH is reverting back to its usual and customary modus operandi of being reactive instead of proactive in safeguarding the town and the health and welfare of the citizens of Billerica.
One cannot help but wonder what the EPA representative was thinking or the impression left by what seems to be a total lack of interest by town officials. Was settling the pentachlorophenol pole controversy so exhausting? Maybe it was putting pressure on the Mall owners after being pressured themselves that wore out the Board of Health team. I wonder what Gil Moreira [Error corrected: T/Y M] the town manager thinks about this oversight and if it will affect his BOH appointments in the near future.
