Town Council Appointment To Planning Commission Reverses Election Results
In the 2024 election, voters elected Glen Babcock and reelected Sara St. Laurent, Lisa St. Godard, and Carol Mossa to the Charlestown Planning Commission. Not elected were Coleen Yaroshenko and Laura Rom, with Laura Rom receiving the fewest votes. For very personal reasons, Lisa St. Godard had to resign from the Commission in late November.
The Town Charter allows the Town Council to make appointments to the Planning Commission when there is a vacancy. However, in making the January 13 appointment of the 1st Alternate, the Town Council ignored over 30 years of precedent in how to fill such a vacancy, ignored other language in the Charter that makes clear the intent for such appointments, and chose to reverse the will of the voters when it appointed an individual who had not been elected, Laura Rom, rather than advancing Carol Mossa who is elected and who has been serving admirably as first alternate since the resignation of Lisa St. Godard.
For at least 30 years, and likely for the entire existence of the Planning Commission since 1982, resignations have been filled by moving up the elected members and then creating an empty spot at the bottom, in the position of the 2nd alternate. The 2nd-Alternate position is where all previous unelected appointments have been made.
The Planning Commission Chair, Ruth Platner, wrote to the Town Council on December 30, well in advance of the January 13 meeting, to explain the history of appointments by the Town Council to the Planning Commission. In her letter, Chair Platner pointed out sections of the Town Charter that refer to elected Planning Commission members being advanced when members of the Planning Commission are not available. In addition, she also recounted over three decades of appointment history, during which there had been 13 vacancies and where elected Ist Alternates have advanced to fill voting-member vacancies and elected 2nd Alternates have advanced to 1st-Alternate positions without regard to previous election endorsement, party, or land-use philosophy.
The Town Council instead focused solely on section § C-172 of the Charter that says, “the Council may appoint a replacement alternate to serve until the next general election.” Because that section does not specify how to make such an appointment, they claimed it allows them to do whatever they want. That may be true, but in doing so, they ignored the following language in the same section that specifically refers to the elected alternates filling vacancies until the next general election: “In addition, there shall be two (2) alternate members elected for terms of two (2) years” and “any vacancy on the Commission shall be filled by one (1) of the alternates until the next general election.” They also ignored the following language in § C-173 that says that in “the absence of the first alternate, the second alternate shall serve as the first alternate.”
If anyone should think that Carol Mossa was not a qualified applicant, they have only to look at her election profile. Ms. Rom’s profile is also available.
In the absence or recusal of one of the five elected voting Planning Commission members, the 1st Alternate sits as a voting member. There will be important votes on development applications in the next two years and who votes can make a difference in the outcome. The voters in the 2024 election rather than the Town Council should have determined who will make those important decisions.
Below is the letter that Planning Commission Chair, Ruth Platner, wrote to the town Council on December 30, to explain the history of Town Council appointments to the Planning Commission. The Town Council never addressed or responded to this letter.
Dear Honorable Members of the Charlestown Town Council:
This letter is to request that you confirm Carol Mossa as the Planning Commission’s 1st Alternate. She has served this position since her election to membership in 2022 whenever the 1st Alternate was unable to vote, and since Lisa St. Godard’s resignation this November.
Charlestown’s Charter states the following regarding the election of the alternate members in § C-172 (A), Establishment and organization; compensation: “In addition, there shall be two (2)alternate members elected for terms of two (2) years; and any vacancy on the Commission shall be filled by one (1) of the alternates until the next general election.”
The charter in § C-173 (3), Meetings, quorum, and rules, goes on to specify the order of service/voting, as follows: “In the absence of the first alternate, the second alternate shall serve as the first alternate,” and “In the event two regular Commission members cannot vote, the second alternate shall also serve as a voting member. ”
For at least thirty years, Town Councils have followed the practice of advancing elected members according to this service/voting order whenever there has been a permanent vacancy caused by a death or resignation on the elected Planning Commission.
In the last three decades, there have been 13 vacancies on the Planning Commission for reasons ranging from death, election to the Town Council, health, or a move out of Charlestown. In each case, elected Ist Alternates have advanced to fill voting member vacancies and elected 2nd Alternates have advanced to the 1st Alternate position. These elected alternates have been advanced according to service/voting order regardless of previous election endorsement, party, or land-use philosophy.
In every case, the Town Council has respected the will of the voters and advanced elected members in their voting order. The only appointment of unelected members made to the Planning Commission by previous Town Councils has been to the 2nd Alternate position. An unelected member has never been placed in front of an elected member.
Carol Mossa was elected in 2022 and again in 2024 and has served admirably. I hope the Town Council will follow over three decades of precedent and advance Carol Mossa to the Ist Alternate position.
Thank you,
Ruth Platner”
Bonnie Van Slyke, the author of this post, was a member of the Charlestown Town Council from 2014 to 2022. She was the Town Council Liaison to the Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, and Senior Citizens Commission. She is a former officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center, a former Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Harvard, MA and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Conservation Trust. Bonnie is a freelance copy editor, technical writer, and publications specialist. You can learn more about Bonnie on her profile page.