This blog is not a gossip column. However, when both the Selectboard Chair and Vice-chair publicly rip a Planning Commission member and ask that he step down, that is something about which the public should be aware.
The target was PC member Jeff Goodrich. He has served on the Planning Commission since 2008. During public comment at the Planning Commission meeting on December 10 (as seen on YouTube), Selectboard Chair Claudette Brochu offered these remarks concerning Mr. Goodrich’s conduct.
Jeff Goodrich, you have a great deal of knowledge to share with the Town and Planning Commission. What I’m finding objectionable is how you’re sharing that information. You’re constantly interrupting the [PC] Chair. I find your approach to be extremely aggressive, argumentative [and] misogynistic. I just want to let you know that as the Chair of the Selectboard and the Selectboard having appointment authority that I find it very disturbing.
Planning Commission 12/10/2020 video at approximately 9:30 minute mark.
Ms. Brochu also asked whether it was time for him to step aside, indicating the Selectboard has the power to remove him.
Selectboard Vice-chair Roger Arnold also expressed agreement with Ms. Brochu. “I admire her for presenting [her position] so diplomatically. I would have used much more pointed words.” He added that Mr. Goodrich’s decorum at meetings was “deplorable.”
Jeff Goodrich, a lifelong resident of Norwich, pushed back strongly against those comments. “I get interrupted all the time. I get talked over all the time.”
Why now?
It’s hard to say why the decorum of Mr. Goodrich is now an issue. He joined the Planning Commission in 2008. In April of this year, the Selectboard voted unanimously to reappoint him to his fourth four-year term to that public body. Until a week ago, video recordings of Planning Commission meetings were not available to the public generally. Since attendance by the public at meetings is sparse, it seems unlikely that there is a community movement to remove Mr. Goodrich.
On December 9, the day before the Planning Commission meeting, the Selectboard met in executive session, on a matter “related to appointed official.” The name of that official is not known to the public. The Planning Commission has taken no official vote concerning the deportment of Mr. Goodrich at meetings or his removal.
Also, I don’t know whether appointed officials serve at the pleasure of the Selectboard. Removal may require a showing of good cause.
Video on YouTube
The video of the December 10, 2020 Planning Commission meeting is available on YouTube. The discussion pertinent to this post begins at approximately the 9:30 minute mark and lasts about six minutes.
Thanks for reading this post. Contact me at norwichobserver [at] gmail.com.
After a year of taking meetings virtual people should understand that it is easy to start talking at the same time or there are interruption issues as visual queues are missed during online conferences. It seems like some people are misdirecting their annoyance at virtual meetings and using it as a political opportunity to lash out using the current social justice buzzwords.