AMHERST — Even with a few councilors critical of the process for appointing a new member to the Conservation Commission, and receiving pushback from some residents supporting an incumbent commissioner, an expert in the state’s wetlands rules is being named to the panel.
The Town Council Monday, in an 8-0 vote and with four councilors abstaining, approved a recommendation from Town Manager Paul Bockelman for Kristina Smith of West Pomeroy Lane, a stewardship planner in the Agriculture Preservation Program for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, to join the commission. Smith takes the seat held by Alex Hoar since 2022 and whose term had expired on July 1.
“He has appointed someone who is eminently qualified,” said At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, explaining her vote in favor of Bockelman’s choice. “This person teaches wetlands bylaw compliance to others in this state.”
Hanneke also compared being on an appointed town committee to those who have to win elections.
“No one is entitled to a seat for however long they want,” Hanneke said. “A term ended, the term ended, and the application was a new application, and the person the manager chose to appoint was someone else, and that person is eminently qualified.”
Hanneke was joined by At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg, Council President Lynn Griesmer, District 1 Councilor Ndifreke Ette, District 2 Councilor Pat De Angelis, District 3 Councilor George Ryan and District 5 Councilors Ana Devlin Gauthier and Bob Hegner in ratifying Smith’s appointment.
Among those who abstained was District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who said the appointment process could have been handled better. “I’m very concerned about the process,” Schoen said.
Hoar has said he sought reappointment, but wasn’t granted an interview, and Bockelman said he didn’t have to provide a detailed explanation about his thinking. Many members of appointed boards are given second three-year terms, though this is not the case with all appointments.
Also abstaining from the vote were At Large Councilor Ellisha Walker, District 3 Councilor Heather Hala Lord and District 4 Councilor Jennfier Taub, while District 4 Councilor Pam Rooney was absent
One worry for councilors was that the new appointment would disrupt the review process for a mixed-use development proposed by Archipelago Investments LLC on Hampshire College land near Atkins corner.
Bockelman, though, said he had confirmed that enough members of the commission who have been involved would remain on the panel. He also noted that the developer opted to withdraw its application to the commission.
Taub, who serves on the Town Services and Outreach Committee that reviews Bockelman’s appointment selections, and recommended Smith’s selection to the full council, said that there has been a lot of innuendo around his decision, pointing to a memo in which he wrote that his decision was based on standards and values and protecting the town’s long-term interests.
During a subcommittee meeting, Bockelman said his choice “is one person’s judgment that makes the decision, it is the council’s decision to approve it or not approve it or take no action.”
“I believe it is in the best interest of the town, long term to make this decision,” Bockelman said, adding that it was a difficult decision and he has respect for the work Hoar has done.
Any innuendo, he said, is coming from others.
While a change in the appointments process is possible, Devlin Gauthier said the “appropriate way to express displeasure” would be to revise the appointed committee handbook.
Ryan, who also serves on the TSO committee, said the appointments process is rigorous, with the town manager consulting others, and very few of hundreds of appointments become contentious.
“That in itself suggests this is an extremely unusual circumstance,” Ryan said.
“These positions do not come with a guarantee of anything,” Ryan said. “The fact that you are serving, in and of itself, is not a guarantor of anything.”
Taub contended that the council is becoming a rubber stamp to Bockelman.
Steinberg said the TSO committee’s role isn’t to second guess, but to make sure any candidates recommended by the town manager are qualified to serve.
Several residents spoke out during the TSO.
Joanna Morse of North Amherst said the commission appointee should be someone who best protects the town’s interest, standards and values, but that the process was opaque and with a lack of transparency.
“That is a dangerous slide away from democratic government,” Morse said. “It appears he’s making a decision to eliminate a vote and a voice of someone who was willing to speak up for wetlands.”
Mickey Rathbun of South Amherst said she was “very disturbed” that Hoar wouldn’t be reappointed to a volunteer position and town officials “should not subject them to arbitrary and capricious treatment” and malign their reputations.
Also calling it a horrible process was Maria Kopicki of South Amherst, who noted Hoar’s endless hours of excellent work.
“There are no allegations, there has been insinuations by the town manager that this person has done something wrong, but there is absolutely no specific allegation,” Kopicki said.
Former Planning Board member Janet McGowan said this confirms concerns she and others have with being appointed to boards.
“It’s like a failure of the process,” McGowan said. “It makes it appear the town manager wants to control the process, and the results, the activities of the
Conservation Commission. He wants to keep curious, knowledgeable, possibly dissenting voices out of the process.”
Previously, without discussion, the Town Council acted on two other vacancies on the commission, meaning three of the seven commissioners are new since July 1. The other new appointees are Sarah Matthews, a practicing attorney who served three years on the Kestrel Land Trust board and co-founded Western Mass Rights of Nature, a group advocating for the Connecticut River, and Carol McNeary, who served on the Satilla Riverkeeper Alliance board and the Pierce County Planning Board, both in Georgia, before becoming involved in the Fort River Watershed Association.