MANCHESTER — Less than a week after she was elected to office, a member of First Parish Congregational Church's Board of Trustees is being pressured to resign and make apologies to Windover Construction and church officials for actions she made before she took office.
In spite of this, newly elected trustee Patricia Moody, a Rockwood Heights Road resident, said yesterday: "I'm not going to resign. I'm not going to apologize, and I'm not leaving the parish."
The complaint against Moody, which she said was brought by a church official she would not identify, is that she had submitted a public meeting notice to The Cricket, a weekly newspaper in Manchester, for the church's annual meeting without first consulting church officials or Windover, a Manchester-based development company.
"I didn't do anything wrong," said Moody, who was unanimously elected to the board of trustees last Sunday amid applause from the congregation.
She then explained that she was not the one who secretly contracted with Windover Construction, consulted with the Masons, and then made a preliminary proposal to selectmen. Members of the church's board of trustees had consulted with Windover's president, Lee Dellicker, a church member, about building a new meeting hall next to the church, which would be connected to Town Hall and serve the town, the church and the Masons.
"Everybody in this situation has done what they thought was best for the church," said the Rev. Dr. Llewellyn Smith, a retired minister, who says she did not even know Moody was being pressured to resign until the Times called her yesterday.
However, Smith speculates that the offended parties, none of whom have come forward, believe that the covenant of the church was not honored.
"The idea being is (that) 'congregational' is the operative word. I think that's where we went off tack with the trustees going to the selectmen," said Smith. And, she adds, that is where she believes Moody got into trouble.
After learning about the trustees' meeting with selectmen, like many of her fellow parishioners, Moody was shocked that a major construction project was in the works without the congregation's knowledge. Learning that the meeting was public and believing that Manchester residents whose properties might be affected by the proposed project should be notified, Moody placed a notice of the meeting in The Cricket.
But Smith said there were errors in the notice, including that the project, as mentioned in the notice, was not Windover Development's, but the trustees'. There was no deal with Windover, said Smith. Dellicker, as a member of the parish, was merely providing consultation. There were no plans for building 36 condominiums, as included in the advertisement, and the meeting was not intended to be public.
Before the meeting, Richard Smith, a member of the church council, stated in an e-mail that the meeting should remain closed to anyone but parishioners because it would be "the best way to encourage open expression" without public scrutiny.
The Rev. John Hughes, minister of First Parish, could not be contacted to respond to rumors that the meeting was in fact open, but said in an earlier statement this week that Moody is integral to the community and has served sacrificially and well.
Smith echoed Hughes' statement when she said that "(Moody) has contributed some wonderful things to the congregation and is much appreciated for that."
Moody was elected to replace trustee co-chairman Steve Carhart, who, to avoid a conflict of interest, had to resign before he could assume his new position as moderator of church at the end of June.
Vincent Terrill, who has been a member of the church for 50 years and has served before as a trustee, nominated Moody for the position. "The reason that I elected her is that she is very forthright, very honest and very educated," he said.
"Of course I support her," said Terrill, when asked if the accusations have impacted his support. "She's not new to any of this and she will make an excellent trustee."
With all the controversy over the proposed construction plans and now this issue with Moody, Smith said, "We'd just like to let it settle and die down, and forget about it at this point and not stir it up for the good of the church."
Michael Farrell can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
