Danvers Select Board Member Walks Out Early On Public Meeting

DANVERS, MA - Danvers Select Board member Gardner Trask called for fellow Board member Matthew Duggan's resignation late in Tuesday night's public meeting after Duggan failed to attend Saturday's town budget review and walked out an hour into Tuesday's scheduled meeting after Select Board Chair David Bennett admonished him for missing Saturday's meeting earlier in the night.

Trask cited a pattern of "last-minute cancellations" and an "unwillingness to collaborate with other members of the Board" for his resignation request that began late in the meeting and intensified after Trask realized Duggan had left the room about eight minutes before adjournment.

"If he is unwilling to serve the citizens in a respectful and responsible manner I think he should resign and let someone who is willing to do that work do the work," Trask said.

Patch reached out to Duggan for comment or context on Wednesday through his phone and email listed on the town's website and did not immediately hear back. Patch will update this story if he responds to that request.

"There are different issues there that have compounded," Bennett told Patch early Wednesday afternoon. "He has just not been an effective member of the Board. He does not want to interact with members of the Board. He has told me that before outside of public meetings and now he is not coming to the meetings."

Bennett sanctioned Duggan at a meeting in December for his line of question to candidates for the town's Human Rights and Inclusion Committee and said that Duggan would only be able to question candidates for other town committees in writing after that.

Beyond those types of penalties and public scoldings, Bennett told Patch, there is little the Board can do to compel Duggan to either become more interactive with the Board or vacate his seat.

"It was in my rights (as Chair) to call him out on that," Bennett said of the December action. "There is really nothing else we can do. If he doesn't show, he doesn't show.

"He's put up a roadblock in my mind. I don't know if there is anything more we can do — especially if he's not willing to participate."

Duggan's term extends through May 2024.

Select Board member Maureen Bernard suggested on Tuesday night that an executive session be called to discuss Duggan's participation, but Bennett replied: "We're not questioning anything. We're pointing out the obvious."

"We have to be transparent," Bennett told Patch. "We can't hide things.

"It's unfortunate. I didn't see this coming."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)