Rehoboth Town Clerk Speaks Out

Town Clerk Laura Schwall came under fire recently from town officials regarding proposed bylaw changes. The Board of Selectmen met with Schwall on May 13 and claimed they lacked sufficient time to review the changes before the June 4 Town Meeting.

Schwall told the Reporter that was not the case.

“Chairman (Skip) Vadnais was involved with every step of the Codification process for the past year,” Schwall said Friday. “The Chairman appointed Dr. Richard Panofsky to serve as the Board of Selectmen’s Codification Project Liaison. Dr. Panofsky spent considerable time with Chairman Vadnais reviewing the questions General Code proposed and asked for guidance on how the Board of Selectmen wishes the Codification project to proceed during the Organizational Analysis, Reorganizing and Renumbering, Editorial and Legal Analysis, Preliminary Draft Review and Final Draft Review phases.”

Schwall also disputes statements made by Selectman Lenny Mills at the May 15 Planning Board meeting.

“Selectman / Planning Board member Mills was not asked to read or sign a “350 page” document,” Schwall noted. “He (along with the other four members of the Board of Selectmen) was provided a draft of the Town Warrant on April 22 which included 18 pages of proposed updates to the Town Bylaws for the Board’s review.”

Schwall noted the updates were “limited to correcting typographical and grammatical errors and correcting references to outdated Massachusetts General Laws.”