The West Tisbury affordable housing committee was grilled at a West Tisbury select board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 18, with some members of the board calling the committee’s latest actions “embarrassing.”
Board chair Skipper Manter said the problems emerged during the special town meeting last November when the committee tried to push forward a warrant article that would have funded an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) pilot program, an effort residents rejected in an 80-24 vote. He said the committee seemed unorganized and unprepared to answer questions from voters about the proposal.
“They could’ve done better,” Manter said. “It was embarrassing to me.”
Board member Cynthia Mitchell said that a recently hired administrative assistant to the committee, Wanda Higgins, isn’t getting guidance from the committee. Mitchell noted an “embarrassing” incident when the public couldn’t enter a committee meeting because a web link for remote participation was broken and the physical meeting room was inaccessible.
“It feels like one thing after another,” she said. “I think I speak for the board when I say we need to do something about that immediately.”
Board vice chair Jessica Miller said the special town meeting was a “frowning display” of the committee’s lack of ability to “channel and prepare” for the ADU proposal presentation. She also said there had been committee meetings leading up to the special town meeting where some parts of the ADU proposal weren’t followed up on in a timely manner.
“My sense is we are all concerned about this committee being a functioning committee so that we can move things forward,” Miller said. “We all know what a priority affordable housing is to the Island as a whole.”
This isn’t the first time the committee has been criticized for being dysfunctional. Last year, the committee’s handling of the 401 State Road affordable housing project proposal — described as rude, chaotic, and “spiky” — caused South Mountain Company to leave the project and delay the process.
Jefrey DuBard, who is acting as the committee’s interim chair, acknowledged that there have been “significant setbacks,” particularly from losing committee members and the former administrative assistant who had extensive experience and knowledge of the committee’s history. DuBard added it was never his “intention or desire” to fill in the chair position.
“Being diplomatic and maintaining that order is just not … the space where I am best in,” DuBard said.
DuBard said that while there are several new committee members who are “fantastic and committed and learning and curious,” the loss of more experienced members created a “vortex.”
“I think with more seasoned members of our municipal community, that will change,” he said.
Those individuals would be Miller and West Tisbury finance committee member Kimberly Angell. The select board, on Wednesday, unanimously appointed Miller and Angell to the committee as associate members.
DuBard said he hopes Miller would be able to step up as chair.
When Manter and Mitchell pointed out that Miller wouldn’t be able to be the chair as a nonvoting associate member, DuBard said Miller and Angell’s participation will be the first issue discussed at the next committee meeting.
One option is swapping the membership status between an at-large committee member and an associate member.
Miller said the restructuring of the committee should be decided by the current members, although she would be willing to be a full committee member despite her preference to “shovel” rather than vote in this role.
Poor form to call out and criticize when there was all the opportunity to support and assist our endeavors all along the way. It hardly seems like we are working on the same team at times. Let’s hope Ms. Miller’s professed executive acumen will prove just the trick to help sort us all out.