Planning alternates walk out of hearing
BY PETER B. BRACE
On Monday night, Nantucket Planning Board alternates Charity Benz, Jason Flanagan and John Wagley walked out of a public hearing that was intended to afford them the opportunity to respond to charges leveled against them by the Planning Board.

The three Planning Board alternates are seeking apologies from the Planning Board for an Oct. 23 letter reprimanding Benz, Flanagan and Wagley for alleged tardiness, disruptive meeting behavior, substance abuse, racist comments and disrespectful treatment of planning staff.

Having hired Boston attorney Joel B. Bard since the board's last meeting on Dec. 11, the alternates chose to remove themselves from the offered hearing because Bard told them they would not be treated fairly.

"The attorney advised us that because we had been treated unfairly, and because the Planning Board activities had been highly secretive and that they had not responded to our requests, we would not be treated fairly in any hearing and that all of these issues were extraneous nonsense," said Benz.

The hearing, for which a notice went out on Jan. 3, and took place in the Other Business segment of the Jan. 8 meeting, was to have allowed the alternates the chance to choose between executive session or a public format, their right under the Open Meeting Law.

However, preceding an abrupt and vocal exit from Monday night's meeting by the alternates, Flanagan informed Planning Board Chairman Don Visco and reiterated numerous times, that he, Benz and Wagley would not be staying for the proceedings.

"I am sorry, there will be no hearing, Mr. Chairman," Flanagan said to Visco. "Our attorney advised you that we will not participate for the reasons you have been informed."

Visco then called Flanagan out of order. Flanagan told him to sit down. Visco then called the meeting into recess. Flanagan continued to protest, saying he was now speaking as a citizen, repeating the alternates' intention to not take part in the hearing and that the board had no legal authority to hold it.

"I ruled you out of order. You are done speaking," Visco said to Flanagan. "You are speaking into the wind. We are not hearing you. You are not being recorded."

Shortly after that, Visco called the meeting back to order.

"This meeting will now come to order and we will convene a special hearing for these alternates," said Visco. "Each alternate will be asked one at a time whether they want to participate in the hearing."

But as Visco made this announcement, the alternates got up and left the room, Flanagan stating one last time that they would not be participating. Attorney Richard Hudson from Town Counsel Paul DeRensis' Boston office then read the protocol for the hearing followed by Visco who addressed each now-empty alternate seat one at a time, asking if they wanted to partake. Hearing nothing, he closed the hearing.

Benz, Flanagan and Wagley want to be exonerated and they want a clear understanding of the board's expectations of its alternates to be established.

"We want the Planning Board to do the right thing," said Benz. "We have asked for a retraction of the letter and an apology and we would like something good to come out of this for Nantucket and that would be the Board of Selectmen establishing policies for all of these volunteer positions."

As a result of this alternate morass, Flanagan appears to be suffering the most, at least in his public life. Two of the nonprofit island organizations he volunteers for have asked him to step away until his reputation is cleared, one tabling his membership for the time being and the other suggesting a more passive role.

"There's no real place that I can go to get my reputation back," he said. "People on the street are asking me whether I'm the racist or the drunk and although it may be humorous, it is not [to me]. I volunteered my time to the town and it's not fair that I should have to answer these questions.

"Had I known that the board operated in such a fashion I would not have put my name in. This whole thing has been so distressing."

Although Planning Director Andrew Vorce said Roberts Rules of Order provides all the information the alternates need to know on how to serve on the Planning Board, Flanagan said there is no specific outlined modus operandi for alternate and associate members.

Vorce added the board has never had problems with its alternates in the past, but regardless, the chairman is in charge and the alternates must respect that.

"I don't know what you do in a situation when people just don't want to cooperate with each other; it's

very negative," he said. I