Letter: Examine Selectmen Candidates' Records Carefully Before You Vote

The following letter was submitted by Mary H. DeChillo

To the Editor,

Peter Spellios and Glenn Kessler are running for the Swampscott Board of Selectman in the April 29 town election. Voters should ask Spellios and Kessler how they will conduct themselves in the role of Selectman—i.e. will they adhere to the role of policy maker as stated in the Charter or will they drift into micromanagement of day to day operations of the town?

The Town Charter is clear about the role of Selectman.

“The board of selectmen shall serve as the chief policy making agency of the town”
(Swampscott Town Charter, 2002; retrieved from the Swampscott Town website)

The Board of Selectmen has no responsibility for program implementation, the town’s day-to-day operations, or personnel matters. These functions, according to the Charter, are the purview of the Swampscott Town Administrator.

Kessler, the incumbent, has drifted beyond the role of Selectman in directly and publicly intervening in such things as town personnel matters (for which he was censured in his first term by his fellow Board of Selectmen members). Where collaboration with his BOS colleagues would enhance the work of the Board on behalf of the town, he has made himself the center of his own initiatives.

Spellios, a member of the Charter Review Commission, is clear about the distinction between the policy role of the Board of Selectman, the administrative role of the Town Administrator and the advisory functions of the various elected and appointed boards. Peter Spellios will approach governance as a policy maker, not a micromanager. Good governance requires Selectman who are clear about the role.

Mary H. DeChillo