Bickering Swampscott Select Board Talks Budget Issues

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — An annual town election that saw the re-election of sitting Select Board members MaryEllen Fletcher and Katie Phelan appeared to do little to smooth over the frequent public dissension within the board with elevated exchanges between members on budget items this week.

As the Select Board sought to move through recommendations for the upcoming annual town meeting, Board member Danielle Leonard expressed frustration over the lack of movement on her attempts to trim the municipal operating budget, while she fired back at Fletcher's questions about how the schools were using a $200,000 reserve account to pay for utilities.

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"I am really annoyed at this lack of understanding about the utility article," Leonard said. "I just cannot deal with the level of disingenuous behavior that this Board is exhibiting time and time again in relation to the School Committee and the director of finance of the school department.

"We've just had an election and it would have been my hope that we would now move forward in a positive, collaborative manner. I feel like this is taking a massive step back. I think it is inappropriate and it is uncalled for."

Leonard called for a new election of the Board chair and vice-chair at the next meeting. Fletcher said that would be on the agenda.

"I am not happy," Leonard said. "We don't realize that the way that we present some things and the way that we say things, we're making other people look back who don't deserve to look bad. ...

"It's playing games. It's not a level of appropriate behavior to me and I'm disgusted by it."

Fletcher responded that she has "issues when Select Board members are carrying the torch for the School Committee and trying to really trying to focus on one section of town vs. another."

Fletcher said she was citing "facts" about the evolution of the utility payments for the schools and raising fair questions about how that money is allocated. She allowed during the budget discussion that the recent election may have contributed to her raising the issue at a later stage of the public process.

"Funding is very important and we have an entire town to take care of," she said. "Not just the school."

Fletcher acknowledged to Patch last week that the recent election was "a challenging time because of all the negativity that was thrown out there ... but with negativity, you get a lot of positivity," and that it was "enjoyable to hear the positive things that people had to say and hear that they were very happy with my leadership on the board, and with Katie."

Fletcher said she and Phelan will continue to do what they feel "is in the best interest of Swampscott and not the drama."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)