BRATTLEBORO — The following is an open letter to Ken Schneck.
Ken, I signed your nominating petition, and I voted for you, putting aside concerns about whether it is prudent to give the responsibility of a three-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard to a person who has lived here for barely four years.
My doubts were not only about whether you are a “seven-day wonder” who may fade as swiftly as he appeared, but also about a lack of institutional memory. Not having been here very long, you are simply at a disadvantage to grasp the context of certain important issues.
I voted for you because, when I signed your petition, you made it quite clear that town government should be a collaborative process, and you were unequivocal in your opinion that the current chairman has discouraged public participation.
Then, your first official act was a vote to reinstate the chairman, and your second act was to marginalize Selectboard member Dora Bouboulis by nominating a newly elected member to replace her as vice chair.
Dora has been a voice of reason. She is fair to everyone and would have made an excellent chair. But even if it were impossible to elect her chair, why in the world did you take a leading role in demoting her?
In a recent ibrattleboro.com comment you wrote: “I campaigned on a platform of bringing voices to the table, so old patterns of marginalization and disenfranchisement, be warned."
That sounds great. It is the reason I voted for you, and I am cautiously optimistic.
However, in view of your initial performance on the board, I am very, very cautiously optimistic; actually, a bit depressed.
The dysfunctional dynamics on the Brattleboro Selectboard have longstanding momentum, and it will take a lot more than noble sentiments for you to actually be effective. Typically, when the chairman or a board member is abusive to a member of the public, the other members say nothing and do nothing about it; their silence, in effect, is legitimization.
Yet if you were to publicly criticize the chairman, you would then be disrupting collegial harmony at the risk of yourself becoming marginalized. Have you thought about how you will handle such a situation? Would you speak privately with the chairman in order to address the problem diplomatically? And if he blew you off, what then? Keep your mouth shut and “go along to get along”? Would you speak out publicly? How will your ideals play out in the real world?
Dick DeGray's conduct as chair for the next year is the responsibility of every Selectboard member: Each of you voted for him to speak for the board, despite his history of rudeness and intimidation as tactics to suppress open discussion.
When someone is humiliated for having the temerity to exercise their Open Meeting right of participation, it discourages others from participating. In a recent ibrattleboro.com comment, Barbara Lewinger wrote the following: “I for one will never forget a woman named Andrea who was about brought to tears when being subjected to some aggressive, rude questioning by DeGray which resulted in my discovery that I have an 'on-off' switch when it comes to our local government - right now somewhat rusted into the off position.”
I have more to say, but I don't want to make this a rant. I am trying to raise questions here that in the end will help you focus on how best to fulfill your promise. For better or worse, you have been sworn in to the Brattleboro Selectboard for the next three years, so I want to support you in any way I can to make it for the better.