Allegations Over Secret Meeting Roil Selectmen

Rehoboth Selectmen Chairman Gerry Schwall has responded to social media allegations regarding a secret meeting between Selectmen and state officials.

A November 9 Facebook post by Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee member Glenn Jefferson claimed “a majority of the BOS” attended a meeting “in the woods with some state reps and others from the state.”

The April 16 meeting which did take place was attended by Schwall, Selectman Skip Vadnais, Steve Wulfson, the Deputy Commissioner of Education, Rehoboth Finance Committee Chairman Michael Deignan, State Rep. Steven Howitt, R-Seekonk, and State Senator Paul Feeney, D- Foxboro. The town’s legal representative was also in attendance.

The meeting, which was arranged through Howitt’s office, was held to give town officials guidance prior to the May town meeting, when the budget is voted on.
“We talked about the results of that meeting here,” Schwall said Tuesday. “It was not a meeting that constituted a quorum of this board or any other board. It was a fact finding meeting. The bottom line is we’re not going to do anything that is illegal or improper, not on this board.”

“We’re not going to react to everything on social media that is brought to our attention,” Schwall added. “But when we something this egregious or quite frankly this careless, we need to address it.”

Schwall believes the Jefferson post was in response to the Selectmen filing an open meeting law complaint against the School Committee. Schwall had alleged the School Committee violated the open meeting law when they scheduled the November 2 “tent” meeting at their September 30 meeting. The November 2 meeting, which was to allow both towns to vote on the 2020 budget, was cancelled on November 1. An incorrect budget figure on the meeting warrant prompted the cancellation.

Schwall urged Jefferson to file an open meeting law complaint with the state if he so desired.