CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Mashpee Board of Selectmen talk with Town Manager Joyce Mason.
MASHPEE – The Mashpee Board of Selectmen last night reaffirmed their vote to select Mashpee Police Chief Rodney Collins as their new town manager, after casting a vote last week without giving proper notice.
The board took their vote for Collins last week just a short time after interviewing him for the position. Collins was the last of five finalists the board interviewed for the job.
But that vote had not been listed on the board’s agenda.
Mashpee Selectman Andrew Gottlieb had cautioned the board from taking the vote, both pointing out it was not on the agenda and that the board should take some time to think about the candidates.
Selectman John Cotton had also wanted to wait until the next meeting before taking the vote, saying he did not want the vote to be emotional. Chief Collins had asked supporters to attend the interview and they filled the room, applauding him before the interview and after the interview.
But despite concerns from two of the five board members, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen John Cahalane said he saw no reason to wait to take the vote and he called for the vote. Immediately after taking the vote, the board decided to reaffirm it at their next meeting.
In the meantime, the town’s attorney reviewed the matter and determined that the board should not have taken the vote last week since it was not on the agenda, according to Cahalane, who made the announcement at Monday night’s meeting.
He also said that the town’s attorney would be scheduling Open Meeting Law sessions for all boards and committees in Mashpee to ensure that everyone understands the Open Meeting Law. The law was changed five years ago, in 2010, with new requirements that boards must stick to the agenda when it comes to municipal meetings.
“Our town attorney is going to come in and give us all a good class on what we can do and can’t do, since the new changes,” he said.
After reaffirming the vote for Collins at last night’s meeting, the board went into executive session to begin the process of negotiating a contract with Collins. Cahalane said two members of the board would be selected to serve on a contract negotiation subcommittee.
He said there is no timeline on the negotiations.
“Knowing the familiarity with the town and the chief of police, I’m sure that it will be short term, probably next week or so,” he said of the negotiations.
As to why he called for the vote even though it was not on the agenda, Cahalane said, “I’ve been involved in votes that have taken place as long as the subject has been on the agenda. After we did it, there were questions about it and we decided to reaffirm Monday night before we even found out whether or not it was legal or not legal. Our town council advised us to do it again though.”
Cahalane said the board has not gotten a written ruling from the town attorney but he made it clear they had made a mistake.
“He felt under the new rules we should do it to protect ourselves,” Cahalane said of the attorney’s opinion.
Cahalane said he was not attempting to do something without the public knowing about it. “I thought they did know, seeing as we did all the interviews on live television, had all the discussions on live television, and we never had a single executive session on the matter, so I thought we were being very open about it,” he said.
Cahalane said an Open Meeting Law violation has been filed by Ron Beatty, who is a resident of Barnstable.
