Woodbury Zoning Commission member Sean Murphy officially tendered his resignation from the land use board and the Plan of Conservation Development Subcommittee, filing with the town clerk on May 15.
In his letter Murphy cites friction with other commission members, stating, "Many officials do not know their responsibilities and do not care to learn. Others cannot be bothered to stand up when they know something is wrong and do something about it."
[Read the full text of Murphy's resignation letter attached above.]
Murphy, who has been an alternate on the Zoning Commission since 2011, said Thursday he originally joined the commission to open up the process but has met firm resistance from Chairman Martin Overton.
“One person writes these changes [to the zoning code], no one reads them, they hold a public hearing, then they hold a vote,” Murphy said. “Those five [regular members] own this problem — they’re not doing their jobs.”
“I’m not going to sit on a commission where people don’t care,” he said of finally deciding to leave. “I’m tired of it — tired of being abused, tired of being quieted and shut down.”
Murphy threatened to resign from the commission in December after a contentious meeting but did not file a letter with the town clerk to make it official. When he returned to a subsequent meeting he was told he would have to leave or be arrested, he said.
“I was not polite to [Overton] and I was over the line,” Murphy admitted, however he asserted that he never threatened the chairman and that getting the police involved was unnecessary.
“It’s a volunteer gig — I don’t need this crap,” he said. “Quite honestly, I don’t need it.”
Murphy said he might consider running for an elected position again but not in the near future.
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