Politics & Government

Wrentham Town Meeting: Board of Health Will Remain Elected

Townspeople decline to change board status.

Residents at Monday night's Special Town Meeting declined to move along a proposal that would change the Board of Health from elected to appointed.

The proposed article would have put the change on next April's ballot.

Selectman Stephen Langley said the board had suggested the change in order to streamline town operations.

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"One of the missions of the Board of Selectmen is to investigate ways to improve service to the town," he said, pointing out that numerous area towns had appointed boards of health.

Langley said the change was not a selectmen power grab, as had been suggested, nor would it compromise the board's independence.

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"It's been suggested the Board of Health would march in lockstep with the Board of Selectmen," Langley said. "The Board of Health is an important board, but we also have adjudicated boards that are appointed."

Several residents suggested the change was motivated by a desire to develop the town.

"This is presented as an opportunity for you to voice your opinion — if you believe that, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you," a resident said. "This is to help development, nothing more."

Debra Dunn, the chairwoman of the Board of Health, said she believed selectmen would be able to wield undue influence on the board if the change went through.

"One of the things mentioned was that the town of Seekonk has an appointed board of health — Seekonk just appointed two of their selectmen to their board of health," she said. "I've been told by the town administrator that it would be politically unpopular to appoint me when my term is up."

Planning Board member Bob Cohen said he disagreed with the move.

"Taking away this element of direct democracy may not be in the best interest of the town," he said. "If we make this decision today because we like this group [of selectmen], we may not like the group in the future."

Resident Patrick Moore indicated some support for the change.

"The town of Wrentham can be extremely difficult to run [for office] in," he said. "A lot of quality people don't want to put up with what happens when they run."

The article was defeated by a vote of 86-57.


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