KENT, Conn.—The Board of Selectmen Wednesday night declined to appoint Public Works foreman Rick Osborne to the Inland Wetlands Commission.
The Inland Wetlands Commission had twice formally nominated Osborne as an alternate, before voting to recommend him again during its August meeting.
Earlier recommendations had been denied because, under state statute, employees are barred from serving on bodies exercising planning, zoning, land use or inland wetlands powers unless a town permits it by passing its own ordinance.
The IWC asked that the town pass such as ordinance, which it did at town meeting on July 24. The second time the IWC recommended Osborne the selectmen was refused because the new ordinance had yet to go into effect.
The third time did not prove to be the charm. “I don’t support appointing town employees to commissions,” First Selectman Eric Epstein said flatly.
He turned passage of the recommendation over to his fellow selectmen, both of whom declined. “[As foreman] he comes before that commission multiple times each year,” said Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington. “Of course, he can recuse himself, but other people will be coming before that board and see him sitting there making decision on their applications. There will be a perception of conflict of interest at every single meeting.”
Selectman Lynn Harrington said she could see both the commission’s and the selectmen’s sides of the issue. “We’re a small town, and only so many people step up to serve on boards and commissions,” she said. “But I can also see your point on this particular one.”
