Select Board delays finalizing building and infrastructure committee charges, will solicit fire department and rec center input

The Town of Wayne Select Board on Oct. 7 reviewed draft charges for a building committee and an infrastructure committee and decided not to adopt either charge that night. Board members debated whether to include a fire-department representative and a LAAD Recreation Center representative as voting members, whether such members should be nonvoting resources, and what quorum rules should apply.

Hazel and other members argued that the fire department should have a seat because its expertise is broadly relevant to the town’s building assessments, while other members suggested the fire department and the rec center could be invited as resources when needed. The board reached a compromise to contact the fire chief and the LAAD/rec center board to solicit their views and return with proposed language at the next meeting. The town manager offered to serve as a nonvoting facilitator for committee logistics.

Members also discussed committee size and quorum language (a seven-member committee with an explicit quorum threshold and voting rules was suggested), and asked staff to adjust draft language (quorum numbers and a possible project-management skill requirement). The board asked the town manager to reach out to the fire department and LAAD Recreation Center and to bring suggested edits back to the select board for formal adoption.

No formal vote to create the committees was taken; the matter will return to a future meeting with revised language.