Tempers flared at the Temple Select Board meeting Tuesday night as the Selectmen voted on who to appoint to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Ultimately, Emily Sliviak was appointed to the ZBA to replace Deb Deieso.
Prior to the vote to appoint Sliviak, many attendees and members of other town boards spoke about the difficulty of ZBA positions and the importance of institutional knowledge.
“I don’t think people understand how much work goes on during a case,” said Select Board Chair Bill Ezell, who also sits on the ZBA. He said that he supported keeping the board the same and reappointing the two members whose terms were up due to the potential difficulty of cases currently facing the ZBA.
Honey Hastings, whose resignation from an alternate position on the ZBA earlier this year sparked recent debate over how the Select Board handles appointments, advocated for the same.
“If you have too much change now, the likelihood of litigation is even higher,” Hastings said. “Shaking it up right now, I think, would be a mistake.”
The issue that Hastings, Ezell, and others were most concerned about was the technical aspect of ZBA cases and the potential risk for the town being forced to go to court. The amount of knowledge required to understand ZBA laws and ordinances, according to Ezell, is large, and usually new members are not full members of the board but instead begin as alternates to “learn the ropes.”
Current members of the ZBA had also voted to recommend that the makeup of the board remain the same. Concerns were raised at the meeting that multiple ZBA members might resign if this recommendation was not upheld and new members were appointed.
When Ezell moved to reappoint Deieso for these reasons, his motion did not receive a second. Instead, Select Board member George Willard motioned to have Sliviak take Deieso’s place on the board, a motion that carried with “yea” votes from Willard and Ken Caisse and a “nay” vote from Ezell.
ZBA Chair John Kieley was reappointed to his position, and Deieso was appointed as a ZBA alternate along with Allan Pickman, who has been a member of the Planning Board in past years.
Sliviak said after the meeting that she put forth her name for consideration for the ZBA because she wanted to positively impact the town.
“I want what is best for Temple, and I just wanted to join the team,” Sliviak said. “I think I’d be a great balance with all the other members on there and I’m just looking forward to learning from them and participating in it and adding what I can to it.”
For Sliviak, the meeting also brought back tensions between her and ZBA alternate Gail Cromwell. Previous clashes between the two over the ZBA case surrounding Ben’s Sugar Shack were brought up. When Sliviak, who is operations manager for Ben’s Pure Maple Products and engaged to Ben Fisk of Ben’s Sugar Shack, was appointed to the ZBA, Cromwell left the meeting.
“I can see that obviously she’s not happy that I’m now a member,” said Sliviak, “but I hope to move forward, I mean the past is the past at this point.”
On the ZBA, Sliviak said that she hopes to continue making Temple a great place to live.
“I don’t want to see Temple change,” Sliviak said. “I think supporting local business is the most important and I think the average person needs to be represented, and that’s what the Board doesn’t do.”
In an attempt to help address the debate around the appointments, Christine Robidoux, a member of six town boards including the Planning Board, suggested that ZBA spots be changed to elected positions. Ezell said the idea could be worth discussing at a later date.