By Carol Britton Meyer

What was expected to be a quick and easy select board meeting Tuesday night on the Zoom platform turned out to be anything but, with a lengthy and sometimes edgy discussion of who should be the chair until the May 15 town election and 15-year member Domenico Sestito announcing that he will not run for reelection in the middle of the back-and-forth. Ultimately, Vice Chair Donna Pursel was elected chair.

“There will be another reorganization after the election,” said Pursel, who has been acting chair since Jennifer Constable’s recent announcement of her resignation. She went on to accept nominations for chair and vice chair during what turned out to be a somewhat tense process.

Board member Greg Grey nominated Pursel as acting chair, which he felt was a “natural progression” since Pursel is already the vice chair.

Pursel seconded the motion, noting that she has willingly filled in as chair as needed and has always presented her views “with balance and logic” and would continue to do that as chair.

With this being a time of “a lot of important items and hard decisions” – with Town Manager Philip Lemnios retiring at the end of June, three select board members with terms expiring this year, and town meeting just around the corner – Pursel said she believed she was the right person to serve as chair.

Before a vote could be taken, Sestito made a substitute motion, which he said might be “unprecedented,” to appoint himself as chair based on what he called a “pivotal time in our town’s 350-year history” and his experience with the process of hiring a new police chief after Chief Richard Billings’s retirement several years ago.

“I’ve been thinking we have kind of entered into this phase of things we haven’t seen in decades,” Sestito said, referring to Lemnios’ 25 years in his current role and the challenge of finding a replacement.

“When Chief Billings retired, the police department was in a kind of disarray, with a lot of negative press, and we had to be sure that as a board we picked the right chief,” Sestito continued. “I think in the next two-and-a-half months, we need someone who has been through a similar process to navigate us through this.”

Board member Irwin Nesoff seconded Sestito’s motion, asking for further discussion among Pursel and Sestito.

While saying she appreciated and respected Sestito’s remarks, Pursel said the reason she was elected three years ago was because citizens “were looking for change and no longer wanted the status quo.

“I’ve showed up at this table in a professional and prepared manner, and while I can appreciate your history on the board, and the town is better for that, you haven’t sat in the secretary, vice chair, or chair seat during that time, and now we’re at a pivotal point,” she said. “I believe I am the right person to be chair.”

Sestito was not convinced, and in continuing to advocate for himself as being the right choice for the role, he said his management style was to put the board first and his own priorities second.

From a qualifications perspective, Sestito said, he has served as chair and vice chair during his years on the board, although he has not been in a leadership position for a number of years.

“But you can’t always be front and center,” he said. “Sometimes it’s time to take a step back or a step forward, and what’s important here is to have a chair or a management style that will support and create a [path] to success in appointing a new town manager.”

Sestito took this as an opportunity to announce his decision, made after much consideration, that he feels it’s time for him to move on for both personal reasons and for the sake of the town.

“There does come a time in our roles as elected officials when it’s important to step aside,” he said.

At the same time, Sestito asked fellow board members to support naming him chair “to help get us through this pivotal point in time. It would only be until May 15.”

Calling the situation “perplexing,” Nesoff talked about the need to fill the chair role and the fact that there are two select board seats with the incumbents having terms expiring this year, plus Constable’s vacant seat, the results of which could constitute a “significant” change in the board’s makeup.

“This will be a very important, interesting, and hopefully not tumultuous four months,” Nesoff said. “We haven’t been [in this situation] for 25 years.”

Nesoff also said making Sestito chair “would be a nice way to honor his 15 years on the board.”

Pursel continued the discussion by stating that all would likely agree that hiring a new town manager “is probably the most important decision that this board has faced.

“While we hired a consulting firm to guide us through that process and the chair will be part of that team, he or she would not be guiding the process,” she said. “I think any of our management skills would qualify any of us to sit in the chair position, and I can think of other ways to honor Dom and others who have left or are leaving positions. When we hired a consultant, we placed our faith and trust in them.”

Pursel added that anything that has come to the board’s attention has been handled working together, and that she doesn’t believe one member’s leadership style is better than another’s.

On the other hand, Sestito said that the advantage to him filling the chair seat is that he has “no political skin in the game, no reelection campaign to run. I come as a neutral party. The appointment of our new town manager will be very controversial, with a group of people 100% on board and another group of people who will not be. There would be no political risk to me.”

Sestito went on to ask the board to name him as chair for the “sheer” fact that he is not running for reelection.

“I am asking all of you to take that into consideration and cast your vote for me as chair for the next two-and-a-half months,” he said.

Nesoff turned to Grey for his thoughts at this point in the discussion, “not to put you on the spot, Greg.”

Grey’s opinion was that while he believes that both Pursel and Sestito are “more than capable” to serve as chair, he noted that 99% of the time in a situation like this, the vice chair would be appointed as chair.

“Donna has assumed that position and is ready to go,” he said. “She deserves that. I have nothing to add at this point and think we should take a vote and see what happens.”

Sestito’s motion to appoint himself chair was seconded by Nesoff. Both men voted in favor, but a majority was not reached.

The main motion to appoint Pursel was made by Grey, seconded by Pursel, with Grey and Nesoff in favor of the motion and Sestito opposed.

Sestito then switched gears. “Under these circumstances, with a 3-1 vote, I will do what I think is proper for the board and the town and make a motion to appoint you [Pursel] as chair, and I will vote in favor of that,” he said. “This is something other board members haven’t given me or others the courtesy of, but I believe it’s more important to put the body of the select board ahead of one’s personal needs.”

Sestito then made a motion to appoint Pursel as chair, with her responding with appreciation. Grey seconded the motion, and the vote was unanimous.

Pursel then made a motion to make Sestito vice chair, seconded by Nesoff and “thirded” by Grey.

At that point, Sestito declined because it would be only for a short time.

“Based on what I heard earlier, we need continuity with the town election coming,” he said. “Irwin and Greg will be here on May 16 [because their terms aren’t up].”

Pursel then withdrew the motion and made a motion for Grey to be vice chair, which was seconded by Nesoff. The vote was unanimous.

“Congratulations to you both,” said Nesoff, who will continue in his role as secretary of the board. “I’m looking forward to working with both of you.”

Before adjourning the meeting, Pursel thanked her colleagues for electing her.