DEERFIELD — The town is considering becoming the third municipality in Franklin County, joining only Northfield and Orange, with a five-member Select Board.
The three-member Deerfield Select Board discussed the possibility of expanding to five members at a recent meeting, reigniting a long-running discussion in town, according to Select Board Chair Trevor McDaniel.
Former Deerfield Select Board member David Wolfram returned to Town Hall to broach the topic. He claimed expanding the board to five voices would better represent town residents by bringing “additional perspectives into issues.” With a majority vote of three instead of two, Wolfram said a larger board may lead to longer meetings, but would promote “greater stability and continuity.”
Speaking as a former Select Board member, Wolfram said, “People in the town are unfortunately under the impression that this is a part-time job. Those of us who have sat in it know well that it is far from being part-time.”
He added that he does not intend to run for Select Board again, even if the board expands.
To ease the workload and reduce the Board of Health tasks on the Select Board’s list, Wolfram also suggested creating a Board of Health chair position independent of the Select Board. The three-member board serves simultaneously as the Select Board, the Board of Health and the Sewer Commissioners.
When the Northfield Select Board first considered expanding from three to five members, residents formed a Town Governance Study Committee to research the benefits and drawbacks of a five-member board in 2013. After talking to several towns with five-member select boards, the committee members found that the workload was the “driving force” behind many towns across the state deciding to grow their board from three to five members.
When he first read the study in 2013, McDaniel said he believed an expansion might be beneficial. After serving on the Select Board for 10 years, he said he “still probably [feels] that way,” but he expressed concern for a bump to the board’s budget.
“I’ve been torn about this issue a lot,” McDaniel told Wolfram and his fellow board members.
According to Wolfram’s estimates, having two additional Select Board members would increase the board’s budget by $17,000 to $20,000.
“I think it’s a big bang for your buck,” Wolfram said.
Although Wolfram proposed adding an article regarding expanding the Select Board to the town’s Oct. 29 special Town Meeting warrant, the board agreed an annual Town Meeting article would be the best course of action.
The members said the stretch of time until an annual Town Meeting in the spring would allow for conversations with the Finance Committee and Planning Board to discuss the potential budget change. Select Board member Tim Hilchey also proposed a conversation with the Northfield Select Board to hear its perspective as a five-member board.
McDaniel suggested releasing a survey to residents to “get the pulse of the public.”
“Let’s do our homework,” McDaniel said.
Hilchey noted there is no urgency to expand to a five-member board.
“Let’s take a deliberate approach to it,” he said. “It’s a big change and it should be done in a judicious manner.”