Tensions flared at the Chilmark Community Center on Sunday during a discussion on the issues surrounding tomorrow’s town meeting vote over who will manage the town’s tennis courts.
Some attendees were left puzzled as to how an issue about tennis courts could have become so polarizing in the community, but for those on the opposing sides of this issue, the talk represented a boiling point after months of simmering disagreement and finger pointing.
If voters approve Article 32 at the annual town meeting on Tuesday, a public town tennis committee would be created to manage the courts year-round, transferring ownership away from the Chilmark Town Affairs Council (CTAC) that manages the courts in the summer. The article was proposed by the Friends and Associates of Chilmark Tennis (FACT).
Amid mounting criticism of the CTAC leadership in how it has dealt with the divisive issue, the long-serving tennis pro in Chilmark, Eddie Stahl, was a focus on Sunday. Some in the audience said they felt he was the victim of a concerted effort by CTAC leadership to have him removed from the community tennis court where he has taught and coached players for 25 years. At one point in Sunday’s meeting, dozens in attendance raised their hands in a show of support for Stahl.
Voters did not get a direct reply on whether Stahl’s contract would be renewed from embattled CTAC president Suellen Lazarus, or from Susan Pimental Andrien, executive director of the Chilmark Community Center. Leadership told attendees multiple times on Sunday that they would not comment on personnel issues.
“I’d like to begin by addressing an issue that is often mentioned as the reason why FACT was formed and the tennis bylaw was proposed,” Lazarus said on Sunday. “That issue is that there is a personal problem between the tennis pro and me. This is not true. As the chair, I have worked to preserve his employment each year.”
Residents also grilled CTAC leadership regarding a video posted publicly this past week by Kyle Williams, who has worked with CTAC before on anti-racism training. The video asked voters to reject FACT’s proposal, and many at the meeting felt that the video deployed vague allegations of racism in an attempt to steer voters away from FACT. The video also pointed to an unnamed tennis instructor, which appeared to be referencing Stahl, for unspecified problematic behavior.
The video has been taken down, but Williams has since shared a letter to Chilmark residents asking whether disrespectful behavior from Mr. Stahl contributed to the 2023 resignation of Kiera Lapsley, the executive director of the community center’s camp.
“[The video] implies that we … are regressive at best and racist at worst,” said Max Simon on Sunday.
Lazarus told residents that CTAC neither approved nor helped produce the video. But she did say that she provided photos of camp counselors and children used in the video, adding that such photos had been previously used in the public domain without objection.
Simon also read a list of 11 CTAC board members who he said have resigned in the last 18 months, adding that two more, Chris Fischer and Ben Lillenthal, resigned on Saturday.
Lazarus did not directly respond to the list of resignations, and did not comment when asked on some in the community having called for her to resign. She did say on Sunday that FACT has made the board’s work very difficult.
“Each board member has experienced a great deal of pressure, questioning the board’s decisions, and dividing the board,” she said.
In another point of contention at Sunday’s meeting, a letter circulated that accused Lazarus of rescinding a job offer to Troy Lawson — the 2023 executive director of the community center’s summer camp — to return to the position this summer.
“[M]y strong impression was that she rescinded my offer because I did not share her negative views of Eddie and would not be an asset to her in that regard,” Lawson’s letter read.
“There is certainly a misunderstanding, because there was never an offer,” said Lazarus, adding that Lawson was not re-hired because has school-teaching commitments in California, and therefore would have been unable to serve for the duration of the summer.
Multiple former and current CTAC board members also criticized the community center and council on Sunday. Nancy Grundman, who resigned from the board in August 2022, called for better representation, transparency, inclusion and accountability.
“We are so saddened to see that the CCC of today is silencing community voices and centralizing power and decision-making among a small, elite group on the CTAC board,” Grundman said.
Current board member Heather Quinn stated that she has felt excluded, and noted that she is one of three year-round town residents on the board.
“It is a group that I have felt consistently marginalized on. And to be honest, I have wondered at times if it’s because I lived in an affordable home in Chilmark instead of a second one,” she said.
Quinn also advocated for further discussion and collaboration to resolve people’s issues with CTAC, in place of moving ahead on the vote at town meeting.
Community center executive director Andrien on Sunday also spoke against FACT’s proposal and business plan for a town tennis committee.
“The proposal is not sound,” she said. “The expense figures contained in the plan are severely understated. It costs twice as much to staff the tennis program for the nine weeks in the summer as [FACT] have estimated for the whole year.’’
Lazarus and Andrien on Sunday also shared multiple steps that they had taken to better address community needs. These included establishing counselor-in-training and leadership programs for teenage workers, hiring a tennis operations manager to oversee scheduling, staffing, and procurement, and forming a capital improvement and maintenance committee to oversee facility improvements.
Andrien added that she is working on fixing pay issues in which boys were being paid higher than girls, and in which some counselors were being paid under minimum wage in 2021.
Andrien also said that she was open to creating a committee to meet the needs of the tennis community, and looking into providing tennis programming throughout the year.
Reached on Monday while at the community tennis courts, Stahl, who works every summer with the youth that take the tennis programs, said the debate has been divisive for the community.
“I just find it disappointing that — working here with kids, and afterschool with kids, and years of advocating for the kids — something like this has to be played out in our community,” he said.
