The annual election was supposed to be a reset for the politically fractured Select Board, but it didn’t take long for longstanding tensions to resurface Tuesday during its first full meeting with new chair Deb Iaquinto behind the gavel.
The latest round of squabbling wasn’t set off by an overarching issue like the precarious state of town finances or long-term economic development. It involved a mundane procedural matter – when and where the board should meet over the summer and beyond.
Members spent nearly 20 minutes discussing a new round of “Town Hall on the Road” meetings, which were implemented a year ago by then-chair Kevin Canty. The idea, he said, was to improve public access to the board by scheduling sessions in various neighborhoods. Six such meetings were held between June and December.
At the time they were introduced, however, member Dick Quintal – who had just been replaced by Canty as chair – criticized Canty for not putting his plan on an agenda so the board could discuss it.
“Thank you for ruling with a steel fist,” he said during a May 27, 2025, meeting. “It’s catching on from Washington into Plymouth now.”
Tuesday evening, On the Road was on the agenda. Canty had prepared a “memorandum” that included a revamped order for the meeting sites: Cedarville’s fire station, West Elementary School, South Elementary School, Cold Spring Elementary School, Plymouth South High School, and Manomet Elementary School.
“This would cover the community in a more efficient path to get more people to an ‘On the Road’ within a reasonable time in their neighborhoods,” he said.
Quintal, turning toward Canty, again objected.
“I said it before and I’ll say it again tonight: Our business on Tuesday belongs in this building,” he said, referring to Town Hall. “It’s nice you like to go on the road. So do I. Why does it have to be a Tuesday? Why can’t it be Wednesday? Because you don’t like that?”
After an uncomfortable silence, Canty responded, saying offsite sessions should be treated like any other Select Board meeting, which are traditionally held on Tuesdays.
“We have the capacity in our schedule to accommodate it,” he said. “We did it last year and were able to maintain the town’s business.”
“Moving from a Tuesday, at least to me, would be a sign that these On the Road meetings are less important to us, and [that] we’re getting them out of the way, as opposed to prioritizing the concerns of our residents in their neighborhoods and their community,” Canty said.
“That’s totally not where I’m coming from,” Quintal interjected. “So let me just start with how I rebuttal to that. OK, the reason I want to stay in this building is we have staff…we have PAC television. We spent $51 million for this building. Tuesdays we can come here.”
Quintal said he was willing to “go meet with the citizens, if that’s your concern,” but on “another night.” Conducting business outside of Town Hall on Tuesdays, he said, is inconvenient for some people with business before the board, citing as an example an applicant for a liquor license. Also, he said, the neighborhood meetings last year meant less time to discuss the budget and other important matters.
Canty disagreed, saying the board “spent more time on the budget” than ever before in 2025 and will continue to focus on it in coming years.
“We were able to do that while accommodating six On the Road meetings,” he said.
Liquor license hearings, ceremonies, and other administrative matters can easily be scheduled for a date when the board is at Town Hall, Canty said.
Board member Bill Keohan said he favored “taking the Select Board to the people,” but suggested adding more Town Hall meetings “to tackle the workload that this committee is going to see in the next year.”
The remote meetings, Keohan said, should be tailored to the interests of residents in the neighborhoods where they are held.
The vote to continue Town Hall on Road passed by a 5-0 vote, but the dispute over which day of the week to hold them still had to be resolved.
Iaquinto said she sought input from residents about the neighborhood meetings and that the “vast majority” of respondents approved of them. She read excerpts from several email messages.
“It is important for the residents to see and hear what the Select Board does during a regular meeting,” one read. “Most residents, at least in my neighborhood, never attend or watch Select Board meetings. Conducting regular Tuesday business, and including listening to neighborhood concerns, makes it formal and not just puffy.”
Board member David Golden said he was open to meeting wherever and whenever the chair deemed appropriate. But he also sounded frustrated by the back and forth over the logistics.
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last 12 months deciding processes that don’t necessarily need a public debate,” he said.
“I truthfully am amenable to these meetings occurring on any night. I trust the chair to schedule them, so I’ll leave it to the discretion of the chair,” Golden added.
The board then voted 3-2 – with Golden and Quintal in the minority – to conduct he meetings on Tuesdays.
Golden said he voted in the negative “for the reasons I stated prior.” He did not respond to an email seeking clarification Wednesday.
Iaquinto said work has already begun to set up schedule for the offsite meetings.
Mark Pothier can be reached at mark@plymouthindependent.org.