“I don’t care what party they are. I’m trying to appoint the most qualified candidates.””

Mayor Frank Picozzi

What’s the minority party when the mayor is an independent?

Richard Cascella, GOP City Committee chair, argues the Republicans are a minority because they don’t hold a single elected seat in the city.

Mayor Frank Picozzi, an independent, reasons that based on the city charter he’s represents the majority party and both Democrats and Republicans are minorities. But while party affiliation doesn’t matter to Picozzi, it is being raised now that the mayor is attempting to straighten out years of neglect when board and commission appointments expired and positions were left vacant.

Some of that cleanup occurred Monday as the City Council approved reappointments and wrestled with the intent of the charter.

Ward 9 Councilman Vincent Gebhart said Wednesday he is looking for clarity on the makeup and process of appointments to those boards and commissions required to have minority representation. He said he is looking for a legal opinion on the meaning of minority.

Yet he doesn’t want to delay what the mayor is looking to accomplish.

“He believes community involvement is critical,” Gebhart said. He points out volunteers make up most boards and commissions and the city is dependent on their input. Without them, he said, “work wouldn’t happen.”

Nonetheless, Monday’s meeting was not without political drama as the council tabled action on Picozzi’s selection of Zoning Board of Review alternate George Shuster as a full member of the board until the March 22 meeting, while, with little discussion, approving the appointment of Robert DeGregorio to complete the term of Beverly Sturdal.

Also, the council delayed until March 22 a vote on Picozzi’s picks for the Warwick Sewer Authority in the wake of Cascella’s observations that the charter calls for a minority appointment to the board. Complicating that issue, the board was expanded from five to seven members by ordinance but the charter was not amended to reflect the change.

Cascella said the GOP should have been given the opportunity to give Picozzi a list of three nominees from which to make a selection.

“I see his [Cascella’s] point,” Picozzi said Tuesday. Picozzi questioned whether the charter provisions applied when filling vacancies.

“I’m not appointing a whole committee at once, how does that work?’ he asked.

“I don’t care what party they are,” Picozzi said. “I’m trying to appoint the most qualified candidates.”

As it turns out, Scott Goodinson, who formally worked at the WSA, is a registered Republican and would seemingly meet charter requirements.

Cascella doesn’t question Goodinson’s qualifications. He reasons the mayor should follow the charter and failing to do so casts a shadow over proceedings.

On Wednesday, Cascella reasoned that reappointments should be considered “new” appointments and that the GOP should have the option of submitting nominees for those positions as well. He was unclear as to the number of boards and commissions requiring minority representation. He said that is being researched.

Board and commission appointments have long been used as a form of rewarding party loyalists and campaign workers. In fact, the city charter recognizes this and requires the mayor, who is considered to be of the “majority” party, to include members of the opposing party on certain boards.

Picozzi says he’s not beholden to either the Democrats or the Republicans, although he did talk to the city chairs of both parties about his list of appointments. The mayor said these were not political appointments.

“I’m not out to change everybody,” Picozzi said last week when the council agenda was released with a total of 37 new and reappointments. He said the terms of many board and commission members had expired – in some cases more than two years ago – and members simply remained in their positions.

Picozzi didn’t speculate why former Mayor Joseph Solomon hadn’t acted to either reappoint or name new members. He said it took Beverly Hall in his office extensive research of council minutes to establish the list. He talked with most of those he reappointed.

Not all of the appointments announced Monday required council confirmation. As a courtesy, Picozzi informed the council he named Charles Benson, who had served with him when he was chair of the School Committee, to complete the term of Tarah Provencal, who resigned from the Board of Public Safety. Benson, who served on Picozzi’s transition team, will complete Provencal’s term that expires Jan. 1 2022.

Also not requiring council confirmation was the reappointment of James Borden as a harbormaster to a term expiring March 1, 2025. Harbor Commission members reappointed and the expiration of their terms are: George Arnold, 12/1/25; John Dickerson, 12/1/23; Jody King, 12/1/24 and Alfred Nazareth, 12/1/25. Reappointed to the retirement board are: Alfred Marciano, 6/30/22; Jeanne Muto-Kyle, 6/30/23.

Sewer Authority appointments

A high-profile appointment, since Mayor Solomon replaced him, is Picozzi’s selection of Peter Ginaitt to the Sewer Authority. First appointed by former Mayor Scott Avedisian in 2010, Ginaitt was outspoken in promoting the need to address the system’s aging infrastructure and extending sewers to areas reliant on cesspools and failing septic systems.

In an interview, Ginaitt said he expressed his interest in returning to the authority to Picozzi in the fall and sometime later received a call to talk. Ginaitt was encouraged. He said Picozzi had “done his due diligence” – knew the issues and that little had been done.

“I know they are not on everyone’s Christmas list,” he said, referencing opposition to the Bayside project that would bring sewers to more than 900 homes in the neighborhoods of Riverview, Longmeadow, Highland Beach and Bayside. He said the longer the authority waits to extend sewers and address the aging infrastructure, the more it will cost. In the case of Bayside, he points out that the Department of Environmental Management’s extension of a waiver for a state law requiring approved septic systems or sewers for homes with 200 feet of the water won’t be extended again if plans for the sewers are dropped. On the issue of cost – which in the case of Bayside is being driven by archaeological finds of Native Americans, requiring directional drilling – Ginaitt suggests preserving those sites is the responsibility of the community as a whole, not just the neighborhood.

Ginaitt is enthused over the makeup of the authority board and its newly appointed director, Betty Ann Rogers, saying they have the expertise to do the job.

“She has the passion to move forward,” he said of Rogers, who has worked at the authority for 25 yeas.

Ginaitt, a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives, disaffiliated at Picozzi’s request. His appointment, along with those of Goodinson and reappointments of Gary Jarvis and John Justo, were pushed to the March 22 meeting.

Picozzi ran into flak with his selection of Shuster as a member of the Zoning Board of Review. As he had told Picozzi he would do, Ward 3 Councilman Tim Howe voiced opposition to Shuster on the basis of his motion to grant a special use permit and variance for parking with a list of conditions for a self-storage facility with 630 units at Pond Plaza on Post Road overlooking Sand Pond. Shuster made the motion at the July 24, 2019, hearing, one of three hearings comprised of eight hours of testimony. Pond neighbors have vigorously opposed the development and brought legal action to stop it.

They were expected to continue that fight at last night’s Planning Board meeting as the board considers preliminary plans for the project.

Howe said residents opposed to the development filled council chambers but were given only 15 minutes to present their opposition. He said they “felt ignored.”

“We need people who will listen to the citizens,” Howe said of the board. Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur reasoned that the role of board members is broader than a single ward and they need “to maintain vision of the city as a whole.” Ladouceur pointed to Shuster’s involvement in environmental causes as well as his professional [he is an attorney] and educational qualifications.

“To me what’s important is [his] overall talent and knowledge,” he said.

Ward 2 Councilman Jeremy Rix did not question Shuster’s qualifications, but said as he represents constituents in the adjoining ward who have concerns over the storage unit development. Ward 8 Councilman Anthony Sinapi initially said he didn’t question Shuster’s qualifications but opposed his appointment on the basis of his argument granting the zoning exception. Later in the discussion, he said Shuster wasn’t qualified because if he should have considered the arguments of the residents.

Picozzi said Tuesday he would take a straw poll of the council to see Shuster’s appointment would pass.

Reappointments & appointments

The council confirmed the reappointment of Mark Brown, 1/1/22, Cynthia Corkum, 1/1/23, and Margaret Malcolm, 1/1/24, and the appointment of Daniel Hall, 1/1/23, Joseph Jussila and Diana Pangonis, 1/1/24, to the Historical Cemeteries Commission.

The council confirmed the reappointments of Michael Carroll, 4/1/23, Ginny Leslie, 4/1/22, Maxwell Pounder, 4/1/24, and Donna Blue Tobin, 4/1/22, to the Historic District Commission.

Land Trust Commission appointees confirmed by the council are Erin Albanese, 5/1/23, Daniel O’Toole, 5/1/24, and Aaron Schurman, 5/1/25.

Reappointed to the Sewer Board of Review are Joseph Brennan, 4/1/23, and Carter Thomas, 4/1/22.

Reappointed to the Wildlife and Conservation Commission were Henry Brown, 1/1/24, Carl Bergden, 1/1/22, Wayne Cabral, 1/1/24, Robert Clark, 1/1/23, Ann Holst, 1/1/24, Susan Kennedy, 1/1/23, and Raymond Meunier, 1/1/22.