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In a display of administrative grit that would make a Roman Senator weep, the Sudbury Select Board’s Liberty Ledge/Sewataro Subcommittee convened Wednesday night to prove that nothing, not even a lack of shared email attachments, can stop the wheels of local government from spinning in place.
The meeting, held on January 28, 2026, featured a high-stakes psychological thriller centered on the town’s favorite pastime: document version control.
The subcommittee, including Janie Dretler and Dan Carty, is tasked with what can only be described as the easiest middle school civics project of all time. They’re compiling links to existing information and reports that will inform a planning process for the Sewataro property. That may sound simple to the public, but all bets are off when it comes to Sudbury’s third rail.
The evening began with public comments that set a high bar for metaphorical creativity. Resident Bill Schineller, a former member of the Select Board, urged the town to be proud of the Sewataro acquisition, offering “unlikely comps” for the property, including the Melone Gravel Pit and the Sudbury Farms Plaza.
While commercial properties like Sudbury Farms generate tax revenue for the town, the taxpayers did not need to approve and pay for a multi-million-dollar debt exclusion to usher in the businesses or generate the tax revenue.
As for gravel pits, there is no indication that Camp Sewataro is using the campers to mine gravel on the Sewataro property, though there is an adorable “Sand Kingdom” on the property where campers “dig for treasure” according the Sewataro website. As for the Melone property – following a high-profile land swap, it is now a housing development called Cold Brook Crossing.
Subcommittee member Dan Carty came in hot with a performance that appeared to be inspired by the 1999 film “Office Space.” In a hilarious moment of defiance, he refused to discuss any document that hadn’t been “directed” to his personal email inbox.
Carty stated he was “not playing this game” and shouldn’t have to “go pull something down off the website.”
Dretler questioned the distinction Carty was making between pulling the documents from the website and pulling them from an email.
All meeting materials were posted to the website with the agenda 48 hours before the meeting. Dretler maintained that posting a document to the town website is more open and transparent.
After a brief threat to “drop off” the call, Carty agreed to stay if they looked at his version, which was elegantly highlighted in pink.
From there, the two debated the merits of various types of information that might go in the report. The tension peaked during a discussion on whether to include a sentence from a 2019 warrant article. Carty had added a portion of a sentence from the warrant article in his document, Dretler opted to add the full sentence in hers, which somehow led to Carty demanding “If you’re gonna put full sentences in there, I want full sentences in there, too.”
The meeting concluded with a failed attempt to schedule a future meeting as member Carty could not commit to any dates in the coming weeks. The committee adjourned after about an hour, having successfully moved several pieces of text from one Word document to another, while providing ample airtime for a Festivus-style airing of the email grievances.