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davis_squareThe Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing tomorrow night about what should happen when a BOA member resigns with less than a year left of their 2-year terms, as happened twice this year with Bill Roche (ward 1) and Sean O'Donovan (ward 5).
(http://www.somervillema.gov/calendar/hearing-boa-appointments)
Somerville Patch has a thorough article about the history behind tomorrow's public hearing and the proposals being put forward so far.
(http://somerville.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/public-to-speak-out-about-on-how-aldermen-fill-vacancies)
The BOA want to hear residents' ideas too. Many voters expressed their unhappiness with the resignations by voting against the people who were put into the resigning aldermen's seats, but now the question is: How should this issue be treated, going forward?
The School committee approached their vacancy (when ward 1 SC member Maureen Bastardi was nominated by Bill Roche to fill his seat) by holding a public application and interview process to find a replacement. This process could be influenced by the resigning alderman behind the scenes, though. The proposal discussed in Patch to let the defeated candidate in the previous election take the seat if they had more than 40% of the vote is intended to persuade BOA members not to resign unless they have a really good reason to do so.
If you can't make it to the hearing, please email your alderman and the aldermen-at-large (contact info here: http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/board-of-aldermen)
(http://www.somervillema.gov/calendar/hearing-boa-appointments)
Somerville Patch has a thorough article about the history behind tomorrow's public hearing and the proposals being put forward so far.
(http://somerville.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/public-to-speak-out-about-on-how-aldermen-fill-vacancies)
The BOA want to hear residents' ideas too. Many voters expressed their unhappiness with the resignations by voting against the people who were put into the resigning aldermen's seats, but now the question is: How should this issue be treated, going forward?
The School committee approached their vacancy (when ward 1 SC member Maureen Bastardi was nominated by Bill Roche to fill his seat) by holding a public application and interview process to find a replacement. This process could be influenced by the resigning alderman behind the scenes, though. The proposal discussed in Patch to let the defeated candidate in the previous election take the seat if they had more than 40% of the vote is intended to persuade BOA members not to resign unless they have a really good reason to do so.
If you can't make it to the hearing, please email your alderman and the aldermen-at-large (contact info here: http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/board-of-aldermen)
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