I am deeply concerned about the Select Board’s recent handling of nominations for the new Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force. Given the controversial nature of the tax issue, the process for selecting candidates should be transparent and legally sound.
Concord has clear procedures for appointing members to such committees specified in Administrative Policies and Procedures (APP) No. 10, which was first adopted by Concord in 1979 to ensure diversity among all committee members in “terms of neighborhood representation, gender, age, and other demographic characteristics” and to “avoid domination by those having only a limited range of knowledge or special interests.”
APP #10 accomplishes this goal by requiring the active solicitation of potential members through publicity in the press for the Select Board’s review and includes the requirement that committee members limit their service to only one committee at a time.
It was apparent at the February 3 Select Board meeting that the Select Board has bypassed these requirements. Concord’s committees are composed of more than two dozen residents who have dual appointments and over a dozen who have three or more appointments. The Select Board rejected the opportunity to consider a complete list of task force applicants and instead chose from a pool of friends and former committee members. While I appreciate the community spirit of the task force members nominated by the Select Board, the current process actively excluded other individuals that were willing to participate in the Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force.
I urge the Select Board to follow APP No. 10 and revisit these nominations in a manner that upholds transparency and trust.
Mark Moody
Elm Street
