Board pores over intermunicipal agreement draft, cautions on governance and fiscal-agent roles

Board members spent substantial time reviewing an intermunicipal agreement and related consortium documents that would govern a multi-town senior center oversight structure. Materials in the packet included a 2018 recommendation, a 2019 consortium memo, and a UMass cost analysis; Julie Mareno’s documents were cited as the source of several files.

Members discussed key structural questions: whether the entity should remain town-run with Deerfield as fiscal agent, whether a smaller oversight board of five voting members (with at least one representative from each town) would ease quorum problems, and how to protect host-town and select-board authority over hiring and fiscal decisions. Several members urged caution because prior consortium efforts (referred to in the documents as a Frontier Senior Center arrangement) had suffered governance conflicts and control-of-funds issues.

The group identified governance items that need clarification or an addendum: (1) how rental income would be used (transfers to capital savings vs. operations), (2) how capital-project addenda should be tailored to protect towns that invest in renovation, and (3) the composition and powers of a hiring/search committee (suggested membership included COA members, select board members and town administrators). Members also debated whether liaison structures are needed or can be replaced by other outreach methods.

Next steps: board members will provide edits on the draft agreement, staff will solicit feedback from town administrators, and the board will reconvene to refine bylaw language and proposed addenda for hypothetical property scenarios.