Select Board signals it will not reappoint Planning Board member amid procedural concerns

The Plymouth Select Board on March 10 heard more than an hour of testimony from Planning Board member Mike Ahern and other speakers before signaling it would not reappoint Ahern when his term expires April 1.

Ahern recounted his service on multiple town boards, his involvement with the Ag Zone Committee and the housing subcommittee, and the reasons he sought reappointment. He described efforts to raise alternatives to a petitioned warrant article and to facilitate outreach from affected residents during planning-board deliberations.

Central to the discussion were emails Ahern circulated to planning-board officers and others about pending zoning matters. Ahern said his exchanges were intended to schedule and inform future public discussion, not to make decisions outside a public meeting. He shared a written opinion from attorney Jeremy Eagleton concluding that the emails "likely do not constitute a violation of RSA 91-A" because they did not involve a quorum deliberating or reaching decisions outside public meetings. Board members noted the town's counsel, Will Warren (Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella), had provided an alternative view that the same email exchanges could be perceived as a right-to-know violation.

Select Board members and Planning Board colleagues raised several concerns: some members said Ahern used the term "elements" repeatedly in public meetings when discussing criminal activity tied to certain housing occurrences and that the word choice during a traumatic personal account was inappropriate; others emphasized Ahern's knowledge of ag-zone matters and housing issues and urged continued participation.

Citizens submitted written statements read into the record. A letter from Dean Yant urged the Select Board to reappoint Ahern and praised his long service; other planning-board members and attendees expressed frustration over Ahern's phrasing and the perceived effect on public meetings. The Planning Board itself had voted to recommend reappointment by a narrow margin (meeting materials and testimony cited a 4-3 recommendation).

After discussion, several Select Board members said they respected Ahern's service but believed the current moment was not the right time for reappointment. One Select Board member recommended that Ahern "take a step back" while encouraging him to continue engaging with the town in other ways. The board did not take a roll-call reappointment vote at the March 10 meeting; meeting discussion indicated a consensus not to reappoint when the term expires.

Select Board members also encouraged the Planning Board to adopt clearer procedures for pre-meeting communications and agenda scheduling to reduce the risk of right-to-know concerns in the future.