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Chair elevates alternate Micah Thompson after motion withdrawn amid dispute over authority
Summary
At its March 16 meeting the Warner Planning Board debated whether the board or the Select Board fills a vacancy. A motion to recommend Micah Thompson to the Select Board was withdrawn after a point of order; Chair Karen Coyne then elevated Thompson to vote for the meeting.
Chair Karen Coyne elevated alternate Micah Thompson to be a voting member for the March 16 meeting after a procedural dispute over who has authority to fill a Planning Board vacancy.
The exchange began when James Gaffney moved, seconded by Pier D’Aprile, to recommend Micah Thompson as a voting member to fill the vacancy. Vice Chair Barak Greene raised a point of order, saying it is the Select Board that is responsible for filling vacancies. Coyne disagreed, and Board member Bob Holmes said he had reviewed RSA 673:2 while discussing the correct procedure. James Gaffney ultimately withdrew his motion.
Micah Thompson told the board that, because he is currently working to revive the Economic Development Advisory Committee, he would prefer to remain an alternate. After the motion was withdrawn, Chair Coyne elevated Thompson to vote for the duration of the meeting.
Why it matters: elevating an alternate affects who may vote on agenda items and can change quorum calculations. The exchange also surfaced differing interpretations of who formally fills vacancies — the Planning Board’s recommendation role versus the Select Board’s appointment authority, a point Board members flagged for potential follow-up.
No formal vote was recorded to appoint Thompson to a continuing seat; the transcript shows only the withdrawn recommendation motion and the chair’s elevation for this meeting.
