Town Council Looks Ahead to Future Leadership Votes

BRAINTREE, MA - Sean Powers and Charles Ryan may have just been named the Braintree Town Council President and Vice President, but the board is already looking ahead to the 2018 board reorganization process.

Tuesday night, the council voted 8-0 to approve a resolution from Councilman Dan Clifford for the process to “not be encumbered” by the unofficial tradition of naming the vice president as the president.

“In our charter, it does not say that reorganizations are to actually be ascending. We never had that discussion when this council was first created, it just evolved. It became a tradition and a tradition that was never discussed,” Clifford said.

In his resolution, Clifford called for the reorganization process to be “open to all council members to nominate their candidate of choice and to supersedes the former, so-called “tradition.”

“The position of vice president is not a gateway to council presidency,” he said. “This resolution comes forth with no prejudice towards any member of the council. All council members are open for consideration for vice president and president. This resolution would allow all vice presidential and presidential candidates to solicit colleague support and prevent what has happened too often.”

Clifford also proposed a time period to allow council members to announce their intention to seek leadership positions, distribute resumes, and solicit support from other council members.

Councilman John Mullaney, who supported the motion, reminded Clifford that there have been five council presidents since the first one in 2008.

“Having the best resume is not a qualification to being the best council. I think President Bowes showed his ability to work with every council member and treat them fairly. I don’t know how you put that on a resume,” Mullaney said.