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Select Board weighs counsel warning that delayed reappointment could invalidate a school committee vote
Summary
The town received an email from school counsel warning that, under a regional agreement interpretation, a representative not reappointed before November could have a vote discounted in the event of a tie; the Select Board opted to avoid immediate legal costs and to post and double‑appoint around the November election.
The board discussed an email from school counsel about the town’s representative on the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee. The counsel indicated that if the town did not reappoint the representative before November, and if the school committee later faced a tie vote, that representative’s vote might be considered invalid under the attorney’s interpretation of the regional agreement.
The chair said he had a conversation with the school district lawyer, Josh Coleman, who confirmed the interpretation but also suggested the risk was small. "That person's vote might be considered invalid," the chair quoted counsel as saying in explaining why the issue had been raised. Board members debated whether to incur town legal fees to resolve the question; they decided it was not worth the immediate legal expense and instead moved to rescind the prior single‑appointment motion at the next meeting and make a double appointment after the November election, plus to post the position two weeks before appointment as the attorney recommended.
Next steps: the board will notify the district attorney/representative tomorrow of its decision to pursue a double appointment process after the election and will follow the attorney’s suggestion to post prior to appointment.
