Lanesborough Finance Chair to Resign After Budget Season
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The chair of the Finance Committee is resigning as its leader and is considering leaving the panel entirely.
Jodi-Lee Szczepaniak-Locke announced on Monday that she will be stepping down once the fiscal 2025 budget is complete. She told iBerkshires that her decision "most certainly" came from an attendance issue with a member of the committee not being resolved.
"I am a strong believer in following the rules as written and the bylaw was written, approved by town council, and voted on by the townspeople at some point in the past," she wrote in an email on Tuesday.
"The fact that we are now advised differently is unacceptable to me. I will serve until our most important job, the budget, is complete. I also in the meantime am considering complete resignation from the board."
Last week, she spoke to the Select Board about the issue, explaining that the committee is "essentially down to a 33 percent attendance rate."
For full transparency to Lanesborough residents, she feels it is important that they know there are elected members of the committee who are not able to be fully present and this could pose a "significant" problem throughout budget season.
One member had nine absences last year and several meetings had to be rescheduled due to not having a quorum when there was business to take care of.
The Finance Committee has five members elected on a rotating basis for three-year terms. Its main job is to make studied recommendations on all town financial matters and to prepare a budget for the annual town meeting.
Town Administrator Gina Dario pointed out that there is a provision in the bylaws that states if there are more than six unexcused absences within a consecutive 12-month period, the next step is to notify the member that they are considered to have vacated the position. In this case, the town and the committee will allow people to put in an interest form and appoint a replacement member to serve the balance of the term.
The board supported sending out a communication to anyone who meets that criteria and will follow through with Szczepaniak-Locke's request.
She announced her resignation to the committee on Monday, explaining that it will be effective as soon as the budget is voted on in May, explaining that she is "not going to desert my post through what our most important role is."
"I will be speaking with the town clerk to see when I need to notify her so that my position can be placed on the town ballot so that the townspeople can pick my replacement instead of the Select Board and the remaining members of the Finance Committee," she said.
Szczepaniak-Locke was re-elected to a three-year term in 2023, leaving two years left on her term.
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