Published in the November 18, 2015 edition
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
LYNNFIELD — Richard Dalton was unanimously appointed to fill a vacancy on the Planning Board created by the departure of member Randall Crompton.
Both the Planning Board and the Selectmen met jointly to interview candidates and made the appointment on a 7-0 unanimous vote.
Crompton has less than 18 months remaining on his five-year term, which was set to expire in April 2017.
Dalton’s appointment will be effective through the April 2016 election. The one-year remaining in Crompton’s term will be placed on the ballot in the coming election. Also up for re-election to a five-year term in April is co-chairman Alan Dresios.
Dalton previously served on the Planning Board several years ago prior to moving away from town for a few years to pursue an out-of-state career move. He recently moved back to town.
Also interviewing for the post were James Quinn and Brian Tewksbury. Candidate Brian Charville withdrew for consideration and Christopher Page did not attend the interviews on Nov. 4.
Dresios nominated Dalton and Planning Board member Charles Wills offered the second to the nomination. Voting in favor of Dalton’s appointment were Dresios and Wills as well as Planning Board co-Chairman John Faria, Planning Board member Heather Sievers, Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford and Selectmen Tom Terranova and Chris Barrett.
Both boards were impressed by the number of candidates who stepped up to volunteer for the position and encouraged both Quinn and Tewksbury, both of whom are relatively new to town, to consider volunteering for other posts as they become available.
ConCom vacancy
The selectmen accepted the resignation of Conservation Commission member Bill Vitagliano Nov. 16 and unanimously accepted the recommendation of the ConCom to allow alternate member Angelo Salamone fill this vacancy on the board. Vitagliano’s appointment expired in 2017.
The board is now accepting candidates as alternates to the ConCom. Those interested may submit a letter of interest or a resume to the Town Administrator’s office, 55 Summer St.
Personnel Bd. appointments
The Selectmen appointed members to the personnel board by a 2-1 vote Nov. 4. The five-member board consists of one term expiring on June 30, 2015; two terms expiring on June 30, 2017 and two terms expiring on June 30, 2018.
Crawford nominated the slate of Gerald Shulman for the one-year term, Denis Ritchie and Gail Marcus for the 2-year team and Kip Sanford and Michael Griffin for the three-year term, seconded by Barrett.
Applicants who were not nominated were Michael Shaer and Wayne Shaffer while candidates Michael Walsh, Katy Shea and Dick Dalton each withdrew for consideration.
During the discussion on the nomination, Terranova said he wanted Shaffer to be considered for the post. Crawford disagreed, stating that he believes it is inappropriate for Terranova to promote Shaffer for this appointment due to a conflict of interest he has because Shaffer is employed by Terranova.
Recreation Com. resignation
Recreation Commissioner John Judd has resigned from the board because he is moving from town. His resignation was accepted by the selectmen Nov. 16.
“I thank him for his service. He did a great job on the commission. We’ll miss him very much. He’s been a friend of mine for years,” Crawford said. He added that the board “will be taking resumes for applicants for the Rec Commission” and those submitted in advance of the board’s next meeting will be discussed at that time.
Terranova also said Judd was “great to work with” when he was a member of the commission.
“I thank you for all your hard work,” Terranova said, adding, “I’d also like to make a motion to put Wayne Shaffer back on the Recreation Commission. I know that he works with me, but Wayne was on the Recreation Commission for many years. I think Chris (Barrett) could vouch for this – how hard of a worker he was. How he made a lot of our programs extremely successful through his dedication and hard work, so I can’t think of anybody more deserving than him to retake his position back on the Lynnfield Recreation Commission.”
Barrett said, “I can certainly appreciate the nomination,” for Shaffer, but added that he believes Shaffer “should put in his resume with anybody else who is interested in the vacancy and we can consider him with the other applicants, if there are any.”
Crawford agreed that the board “will take applications over the next couple of weeks and see who else is interested. If Mr. Shaffer would like to apply, we’ll consider him along with whoever else applies at our next meeting.”
Applicants should send a letter of interest and a resume to the the Selectmen’s Office, Attn: Bob Curtin, 55 Summer St., Lynnfield MA 01940.
Turkey Trot
The course for the annual Lynnfield Rotary Turkey Trot was approved by the selectmen for Sunday, Nov. 22. The race starts and ends at MarketStreet but also includes several town roads over the 3K course which has been used for many other road races since MarketStreet opened.
Menorah on the common
For the third year in a row the selectmen unanimously approved the request of Chabad of the North Shore Nov. 16 to use the town common for the placement of a menorah to commemorate the festival of Chanukah from Dec. 4-15.
Tree Lighting ceremony
The annual Tree Lighting ceremony on the town common to kick off the Christmas season was approved by the selectmen Nov. 16. Run by the Recreation Commission in conjunction with the commission’s annual Gingerbread House making contest, this year’s celebration will be held on Saturday, Dec. 5.
Name change for business
The selectmen unanimously approved the name change of The Fat Cactus, 215 Broadway, to The Brew District Nov. 4.
Fresh Food Cafe
The board approved a common victualler’s license to the Fresh Food Cafe at 6 Kimball Ln. with Jason Keohane as general manager. His family runs another cafe in Wenham, he told the board.
Executive sessions
The board entered executive sessions at the end of both the Nov. 4 and 16 meetings to discuss the “purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property,” which is allowed under the Open Meeting Law provided the chairman declares that an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the town’s negotiating position. They did not return to open session.
