Selectmen send board-clerk payment dispute to personnel subcommittee after resignation

At a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, members voted to refer a board clerk’s resignation and a related email thread about late payments to the personnel subcommittee for review ahead of the next full meeting.

The matter was raised during public comment when a board member asked the board to consider reversing a resignation filed by the board clerk, Casey, citing months of delayed payments and an attached email record. The board first voted 5–1–1 to add the item to the agenda for immediate discussion; Selectman Bob Mora was recorded as the lone “no,” and one member was absent.

Why it matters: board clerks perform the official recordkeeping for local government meetings; repeated payment problems for an independent contractor doing that work prompted members to seek a procedural fix and to avoid losing experienced support for town operations.

Discussion and next steps A town official explained the town’s accounts-payable cycle: invoices included in the AP report must arrive to finance by the previous Tuesday noon to be considered at the next AP review, which can create a lag of two to three weeks from invoice submission to approval by the board and a subsequent mailing. Mail to an out-of-state contractor can add another six to eight days. The official said checks typically go out on Fridays.

Board members pressed that communications between the administrative office and the finance team should have occurred earlier to resolve the contractor’s complaints. Several members described the clerk, Casey, as a high-performing contractor and said the administration should have convened a meeting among the clerk, the town administrator’s office and finance staff to find a solution before the clerk resigned.

The board then voted to refer the matter to the personnel subcommittee; that motion passed 6–0 with one member absent. The board asked that the subcommittee review the town’s fiscal policies and procedures before meeting with the contractor and that the subcommittee report back at the next full meeting.

Clarifying details - Payment timing: town staff described the AP timeline as potentially taking up to three weeks from invoice receipt to payment approval; mailed checks are typically sent on Fridays and can add 6–8 days in transit for out-of-state recipients. (Town Administrator/Finance staff) - Contractor status: Casey was identified in the meeting record as an independent contractor paid on a 1099 basis rather than as an employee. (Board discussion) - Requested materials: board members asked to receive the town’s current fiscal policies and procedures prior to the personnel-subcommittee meeting.

The personnel subcommittee is expected to convene before the board’s next full meeting to review the clerk’s resignation, the attached email communications, and the town’s payment process. The board did not reverse the resignation at the meeting.