Rockport turmoil: Selectmen's chairman under increasing fire over leadership

ROCKPORT — Selectmen Chairman Sandy Jacques is under increasing fire from his colleagues for his "unilateral" leadership style and alleged lack of communication with fellow members.

And two — those seen as Jacques' closest allies on the Board of Selectmen — acknowledge there could be a move to revisit the selection process and Jacques' position as board chief.

Simmering for several weeks, the malcontent erupted Tuesday night after selectmen publicly challenged the way Jacques has been making decisions regarding items requiring their discussion or approval.

Selectmen voted 4-1 against Jacques to cancel two meetings the chairman had scheduled with MBTA officials for Nov. 12.

Selectman Charles Clark, in an e-mail sent to Jacques earlier this week, stated the posting of the daytime meetings (set for 1 and 4 p.m. on a Thursday) went against the board's recently adopted meeting schedule policy and was done without seeking input from any other selectman. Clark also indicated that, while the 1 p.m. technical meeting, which would include Public Works officials, was proper, and similar meetings had been carried out throughout the MBTA train station design process without selectmen in attendance, the 4 p.m. meeting, slated to include discussion about the "memorandum of understanding" between Rockport and the MBTA, was premature. Clark said that issue should be dealt with during a regular selectmen's meeting when all residents — notably neighbors to the station — would have a better opportunity to attend.

"This project has gone on for years, it did not just begin six months ago," Clark wrote, alluding to Jacques' May election and selection as chairman. Clark had stood to assume the chairmanship following this spring's elections until Selectmen Andrew Heinze, Ellen Canavan and Jacques voted 3-2 to change the selection policy and then gave Jacques the lead role.

Jacques said he scheduled the meetings at the request of the MBTA and suggested holding two meetings because of the MBTA's lengthy agenda.

"I took the courtesy of inviting them to a meeting (selectmen) normally don't go to," Jacques said yesterday. "The 'legal' meeting is not about the town turning over land up there that it owns, but rather about rights of way issues and easements that aren't there and should be. (Clark) is only upset because he wasn't directly involved."

While Clark — who is up for re-election next spring, and described some of Jacques' actions as the "antithesis of transparency," transparency being one of Jacques' key campaign platforms — could be perceived as having a personal conflict with the chairman, every other selectman has also gone on record voicing concerns about Jacques' leadership style.

Canavan described Jacques as a gentleman who has given a lot to the town and is really trying to do a good job — but "just isn't getting it."

"There is a general concern among all the board members ... as to (Jacques') understanding of what it means to be a chairman and what it means to have a fully functioning board," Canavan said yesterday. "He can't just make all of the decisions and change decisions by the board to suit himself.

"I think that it's beginning to wear on people," she said. "When (former town administrator Michael) Racicot first left, we were all working overtime and were really patient because it was hard for everyone trying to manage the community."

Jacques refuted those charges yesterday, touting his six years as chairman on the Finance Committee as leadership experience. He reiterated what he said Tuesday night, calling the complaining "nitpicking" and "childish."

"We don't have a town administrator, we have a competent interim town administrator, but I'm trying to fill in and be a really supportive person to that office in an attempt to keep things moving along," Jacques said.

Jacques noted that the e-mail communication his colleagues are asking for is a breach of open meeting law if it involves as few as three selectmen, except for e-mails regarding the scheduling or canceling of meetings, or to send a document for later review during an open meeting.

Wilkinson, however, pointed to the embarrassment of having to cancel the meetings with the MBTA as an example of how the "town is starting to suffer" as a result of Jacques' leadership.

Heinze said he, too, was worried about the perception of selectmen right now.

"Just because you're the chairman doesn't give you the right to do things unilaterally," Heinze said yesterday. "You only have one vote, but he doesn't want to hear it, I guess."

Heinze noted that, while Jacques has set forth an ambitious and worthwhile list of tasks for selectmen to accomplish — rewriting the town administrator job description, reviewing and revising selectmen's policies, and review of all town committee charges, just to name a few — he's pushing to accomplish them all quickly.

"He has three years, but he's trying to do it all in six months," Heinze added.

"We don't have years ... now is the time to deal with problems and they don't want to meet," Jacques responded, referring to selectmen's adoption of the new meeting policy that restricts the number of regular meetings to two per month. Selectmen had complained Jacques was scheduling too many meetings with too many items on the agendas, leaving little time to adequately prepare for discussion. Jacques said it was a hypocritical move; all the meetings were agreed to by the selectmen before they were scheduled over the last six months, he said.

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," Jacques quipped.

Clark used strong language of his own in the e-mail message to Jacques.

"These same issues of board involvement have been brought to your attention by every member of the board. Your response has been to ignore us and plod on ahead," Clark wrote. "Consultation with the board prior to decision making does make for slower decision making, but it is at least legitimate and leads to tangible successes.

"You need to slow down and understand that the board is a five-member executive body that only acts legitimately when it acts together at a public meeting," Clark said. "We have all been elected to serve our town."

Several selectmen indicated they may move to unseat Jacques if changes aren't made.

Heinze said he is not against Jacques as a person, but is against how he is handling the chairmanship duties.

"I'd back him to stay on as chairman and give him a chance to continue," Heinze said, "but he's got to change his ways — not be so hostile and communicate with us. He has to get a consensus of the board. He's not a dictator, he's a chairman."

At a prior selectmen's meeting, Canavan proposed revisiting the chairmanship policy, indicating there was an interest in bouncing Jacques from the chairman's seat. Heinze also acknowledged a push to unseat him may be in the works.

Heinze and Canavan were elected last year on platforms calling for change, particularly regarding the power of the town administrator, and Jacques' election last spring was widely seen as shifting the board's majority, with him joining the two of them. Racicot announced his plans to step down as town administrator just days after Jacques won his seat.

"I don't know if (Jacques) is going to be able to sort out his own understanding of what's going on around him or if the board will have to take another action," Canavan continued. "None of us are going to allow the town to be hurt; we may look like a rag-tag team sometimes ... but nobody is going to let the town suffer. If we need to have a new chairman or some other type of arrangement, I think we will do that."

Wilkinson said she voted against the change in the chairmanship policy in May and would definitely want to review it again, but that "changing that alone isn't going to handle the issues on the board right now."

Jacques acknowledged selectmen can do anything they want with regard to the chairmanship, but said he hoped to be able to stay on as chairman. Jacques also issued a prepared statement he indicated he planned to send in response to Clark's e-mail.

"To make such monumental issues out of such trivia so as to effect the operation of the board is not professional nor helpful to the town. You need to alter course," Jacques stated. "I for one would welcome this and I am willing to work hard at it as well.

"We need to rise above this and as you say, and I agree, it is the quality of life of our citizens on which we need to focus our energies as we work collectively to run the town as best we can."

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.

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