In what appeared to be a preordained move, Select Board Vice Chair David Golden Tuesday became its new chair by enlisting the support of fellow members Dick Quintal and Bill Keohan to oust Kevin Canty from the position.
The unusual action – which played out in dramatic fashion during an “on the road” meeting at Manomet Elementary School – came just four months after Canty was named chair, replacing Quintal.
The 3-2 vote – Canty and Deb Iaquinto opposed the change – was the culmination of some members’ simmering dissatisfaction with how Canty was running meetings, an issue that Golden aired publicly at last week’s Select Board meeting.
The board traditionally reorganizes after the annual May town election, but its rules allow members to request a reorganization at any time.
Laurence Pizer, who served as town clerk from 1992 to 2020 and then again in 2022, said he could not recall such a public rebuke ever happening.
“People mumbled, people complained, people groaned, but I don’t remember it even coming up for a vote,” Pizer said.
As Tuesday’s meeting began, the tension in the room was obvious. It escalated more once a visibly uncomfortable Canty brought up Golden’s agenda item calling for a vote on the board’s leadership positions.
“The agenda was being dominated by a single person,” Golden said of Canty. After last week’s meeting, Golden said, he received “dozens and dozens of calls” from community members, leaders, and current and former elected officials expressing concern that “this board has become dysfunctional.” Golden also said some of those messages of concern were from “folks in the media.” (Editor’s note: The Plymouth Independent did not contact Golden to offer an opinion or to complain about Canty.)
Golden, who voted for Canty as chair in May, said Canty was not allowing other board members to influence the agenda.
“There needs to be a restoration of collegiality,” he said, adding that “it was with great pain that I asked that this agenda item be added.”
Only Select Board member Deb Iaquinto, newly elected in May, came to Canty’s defense.
“Every new board has growing pains,” Iaquinto said. For the past 10 years, she said, “every board has been described as dysfunctional.”
She seemed skeptical of Golden’s claim that he had heard from dozens of people disenchanted with the board. Iaquinto said she hasn’t “been privy to those same conversations, so I’m not quite sure what people are seeing as dysfunction.”
Iaquinto asked Golden what he thought a functional board would look like.
“The basis of it is respect,” Golden replied. “It’s working together, allowing everyone’s voices to be heard.”
Next to speak was Keohan, who also supported Canty for chair in May. He said Canty had not allowed him to put issues on the agenda.
“It really requires everyone getting along and respecting one another,” Keohan said. “I feel I have not achieved that as of yet.”
And with that, Keohan moved to reorganize the board. He was seconded by Quintal, who earlier this year objected to Canty’s unilateral decision to hold some board meetings in neighborhoods instead of at Town Hall.
Tuesday night’s meeting at Manomet Elementary was the first such session that Quintal attended. He told the Independent Wednesday that since he had missed the previous meeting, and given the importance of the vote, he decided to attend.
“We need to be careful,” Iaquinto urged, reading from a prepared statement. “I’m not sure how we got from discussion of a broken internal system for communicating committee responsibilities to reorganizing the board in less than a week.”
At the Sept. 9 board meeting, Golden clashed with Canty over how to handle the discovery that 66 people appointed by the board to town committees had apparently not been sworn in, as required by a town bylaw. Three days later, Golden submitted his request for the board reorganization.
Iaquinto said she had suggested that members discuss the matter but was told it could not wait and that the board had to be reorganized “now.”
She did not say Tuesday evening who said a reorganization was urgent, but on Wednesday Iaquinto told the Independent the statement was made by Golden in a phone call to her last Friday. Iaquinto wanted the board to instead hold an executive session on a date to be determined to discuss differences.
“I was told no, that we had to do this quickly,” Iaquinto said. “We had to do it now.”
Golden told the Independent that he does not recall having that conversation.
“Leadership transitions must be made thoughtfully and not reactively,” Iaquinto said during Tuesday’s meeting, a belief based on what she said was her long experience in change management in the corporate world. She added that she ran for Select Board this year out of frustration with the reactive way it had been operating.
“And yet, here we are again,” she said. “This is not the best approach. This is not who we are. The town does not deserve this distraction.”
Keohan countered that the problems of the board are the problems of the town.
Quintal did not attend the Sept. 9 meeting that prompted Golden to move to strip Canty of his leadership post, telling the Manomet audience that he was at a Dua Lipa concert that day.
“There is definitely a communication problem,” Quintal said Tuesday, adding that Canty’s refusal to put the issue of neighborhood meetings on an agenda for discussion had angered him.
“I always listened to the board members, and I feel that you don’t do that,” Quintal said, addressing Canty. “I am looking for change.”
Canty asked the board for another chance.
“I have not been a perfect chair,” he conceded, reading from a prepared statement, explaining that if he had seemed controlling, it was because he wanted to make the board work better.
“The people of Plymouth want to see a more active and more responsive Select Board than we have had in the past,” he said.
Among the changes he’s already implemented in his effort to make the board more open and responsive to residents, Canty said, are taking board meetings on the road, posting agendas 10 days in advance, and posting all supporting documents online on the Friday preceding Tuesday meetings.
“I can be too rigid on process and procedure,” he said. “I recognize that some of my colleagues feel that I am too controlling. I promise to improve on those issues.”
But he was not to be given another chance. Golden, Quintal, and Keohan voted to reorganize, with Canty and Iaquinto opposing. Keohan nominated Golden to be the next chair while Iaquinto nominated Canty.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I accept this position,” Golden said after the 3-2 vote. “I think there are a lot of hurt feelings.”
Quintal was elected vice chair by a 5-0 vote.
“I don’t think anyone wants to assume leadership under difficult circumstances,” Golden told the Independent. “I care about Mr. Canty. I care about him as a person and as a professional.”
Canty was less conciliatory.
“From my perspective, Mr. Golden took over with great haste and ample enthusiasm,” he said in an email.
Given the tumultuous last few days and the “hurt feelings,” it is unclear how the deeply divided board will move forward with conducting town business and putting its internal squabbling aside.
“The best thing I can do is work to create a collaborative and respectful environment,” Golden told the Independent. “My plan is to meet individually with each of the board members and ask them for their counsel and ask them how I can create that environment.”
Despite the public embarrassment, Canty also promised to work with his colleagues.
“I was elected on a platform to move Plymouth forward and I am committed to collaborate with any willing colleagues to improve the affordability, sustainability, and economic base of Plymouth for all of our residents,” he said. “Our constituents want results from our board, and I intend to do my best every day to deliver those results.”
Iaquinto said the board will “definitely” find a way forward.
“We all want what’s in the best interest of the town,” she said. “And so, we have to come together.”
Keohan did not respond to a request for comment.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org