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The Select Board meeting of July 30 was out of the ordinary.
When Chair Jennifer Roberts called for Reports from the Select Board, Mr. Carty started out (timestamp 5:40) by saying he was not giving a report, but “In lieu of comment tonight I want to read a statement.” He then read a statement from School Committee Chair Nicole Burnard, as well as a statement of his own, and asked they be included in the packet. (link) He was defending a private conversation he had with Chair Burnard.
The school committee had scheduled an extra meeting for July 8 to discuss the Select Board’s request for possible warrant articles for a fall town meeting. After speaking with Mr. Carty, Ms. Burnard removed the town meeting articles discussion from the July 8 agenda of the school committee. The other four elected members of the school committee did not get to discuss the topic, but Dan Carty did.
This highly unusual conduct was the subject of a July 15 letter from a school committee member who raised concerns to the Select Board.
Mr. Carty’s statement acknowledges he had a conversation with Ms. Burnard, but he was curiously evasive and defensive on the substance of the conversation. It’s worth noting, this is a conversation he did not voluntarily report back to the Select Board, which is the role of a liaison.
Mr. Carty stated that only he and Ms. Burnard know what was said at that conversation. To that extent Mr. Carty is correct; and that is exactly the problem.
This is not a one-off incident. It’s a pattern with Mr. Carty and a few other elected officials in Sudbury. It’s not good government, it’s not transparent government, and it’s certainly not good for Sudbury.
In January 2023, we learned that Member Carty joined a budget meeting with the Interim Town Manager, Select Board Chair Charlie Russo, Town staff and School Committee Chair, Silvia Nerssessian. The Interim Town Manager said Carty was invited because he was the “SPS liaison.”
The liaison role has nothing to do with these types of budget discussions. But it’s evident the liaison role has been weaponized to gain privileged access and exert undue influence. By the time all elected members of the Select Board were looped into the discussion in an open meeting on January 10, 2023, the Interim Town Manager had already decided not to pursue a municipal override alongside the SPS override. (Page 6 and timestamp 2:05:00)
This is not how good decisions are made on behalf of Sudbury residents.
Substantive conversation about important issues, such as topics for town meeting articles and overrides should be discussed openly at committee meetings, not privately, where the participants may have a reason to frame their memories to make it seem innocuous.
Such conversations are the antithesis of transparency in town governance. This conduct may not technically run afoul of the Open Meeting Law or State ethics laws, but it raises grave concerns of undue influence and undemocratic governance.
Undue influence was on full display when Mr. Carty wrote his Town Manager Review, which was supposed to be his own evaluation. Instead, Mr. Carty cherry picked senior staff for comments about the TM and paraphrased their words. Not only was it wrong, it was inappropriate because staff had already provided their own ‘360 Review’. Conducting unnecessary conversations hidden from public view, and using them for political ends is corrosive to trust in local government. (Page 184)
Again, this pattern of conduct may not break any laws, but it fuels institutional rot and undermines local democracy.
When those who have raised legitimate questions are then baselessly targeted by elected officials in positions of power, it’s all the more reason to be concerned about the state of local government. On July 30, Mr. Carty suggested it is those who have raised questions that are the problem: “If this really is a question about ethics, I would suggest to instead look at those who were not part of the conversation between Ms. Burnard and me….. Certainly, they have reasons for doing so but only they could explain them.”
This is simply gaslighting. All residents should have grave concerns about normalizing this conduct.
Of all levels of government, local government has the most direct impact on our lives and our family’s lives. No one local official should be allowed to gain such undue influence over your life and your family. Our local institutions need to be protected from this conduct.