Published in the May 11, 2016 edition
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
LYNNFIELD — A War Memorial Committee comprised of nine members was appointed by the selectmen Monday night.
The committee’s membership is expanded beyond the scope of the original five-member board proposed earlier this year when the selectmen accepted a proposal made by former Veterans’ Services Officer Jason Kimball to form such a committee.
Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford proposed expanding the membership to his fellow board members upon receiving the resumes of eight veterans interested in serving on the committee. The ninth member appointed to the board is current Veterans’ Services Officers Bruce Siegel.
“Fortunately, we have some wonderful residents, they are all veterans, come forward who fought in different wars,” Crawford said of the eight men who submitted their resumes for consideration by the board.
“It is a committee that is going to design and locate a new war memorial for the town of Lynnfield as their first charge,” Crawford said.
“Their second charge will be to do a financing program,” he said, recalling that when former Veterans’ Services Officer Jason Kimball made this proposal to the board in March he stated the intent would be to have the funds privately raised for this memorial.
Crawford said for this type of a committee he would welcome additional members. “I think that every veteran that would like to come forward and be on this committee should have a chance to do so,” he said. He proposed that the board adopt an expansion of the committee from five members to nine. “And then we would approve everybody who has come forward to date as a member of that committee,” he said.
Both Selectmen Chris Barrett and Dick Dalton favored expanding the committee.
Barrett said this was once again “good news” for the town that its veterans remain sincerely interested in serving their community, similar to when the position for the new Veterans’ Services Officer opened up and “five great candidates stepped forward. I think the more people we can get on this committee, especially for such an important project for Lynnfield, the better.”
Barrett added that having a larger committee would be helpful in determining where best to locate the memorial as well as the financial aspect of the project. “Increasing it to nine is a good idea and one that I certainly favor,” Barrett said.
Dalton agreed. “Going to a nine-member board is the proper thing to do so we can take advantage of all of the volunteers and as you said, we really have some real quality people here that have come forward.”
The veterans appointed to the board are Tom Bogart, Paul Donato, John Harrigan, John H. “Jason” Kimball III, Charles Leach, Ronald Nutter, Nicholas Secatore and retired Col. Joe Connell.
“There is absolutely no reason not to appoint everyone to this board. I think everybody would agree to the common goal and I appreciate not only everything you did for our country but what you are doing for the town,” Crawford said.
Crawford said he proposed adding the VSO as the ninth member because it is helpful to have an odd number of members on a board in the event of a tie vote. The board voted unanimously to approve the slate of nine members.
After the committee completes its initial assessment of the location and design of the war memorial, Crawford said they should make a presentation to the board before proceeding to the financing aspect of the proposal.
“Obviously, the design and the location is going to determine the cost,” Crawford said.
