'Governing by Committee'?

Back when I was on the conservation commission, some hearings went on for so long that we had quorum problems. In spite of the fact that we had ten members (seven full and three alternate), alternates could only be part of the quorum if fewer than four full members were present.

Being an industrious lot, we asked town meeting to change this so that alternates could be part of the quorum if any of the seven full members were not present. Town meeting agreed. Problem solved.

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has a similar problem, albeit a balance of power issue. Of seven individuals, only three are full members. That's a lot of power in a few hands. Indeed, although the ZBA as a whole voted 5-2 to support Mr. McNamara's article and extend full membership on the board from three to five, the full time members voted 2-1 against it.

Matt McNamara should get credit for trying to fix this, but the selectmen couldn't find it in themselves to support his article. Instead, in a move reminiscent of the cranberry bog controversy, they appointed a study group.

Back in 1999, a bog study group recommended separating the cranberry bogs from the Coonamessett River in order to improve the river's health. Rather than implement those recommendations, the selectmen did nothing. A few years passed, a ruckus was raised, and the selectmen appointed yet another study group (the Coonamessett River Restoration Working Group), which, among other things, recommended that we separate bogs from the river.

Faced with a potentially controversial decision, the selectmen either table it or create a committee or study group to make the decision for them. Instead of action, we have dog hearings that go on and on for months even as the selectmen appoint an ever expanding number of unelected decision-making groups. It is, as someone suggested not long ago, "governing by committee."

Study groups aren't needed to make decisions; the conservation commission didn't need one when we had a quorum problem. So, either the selectmen don't have the courage to make decisions, or town government is too complex for them to govern. Which is it? Is our board of selectmen not up to the task they were elected to perform, or is Falmouth too big to be adequately governed by a board of selectmen?

(This post also appeared as a letter in the Friday, November 2, 2007 issue of the Falmouth Enterprise)