PARIS — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept the resignation of a recreation committee member and to allow the chairman — who also resigned — to reapply to the committee.
Parks and Recreation Committee Chairman Krystall Rudman and member Jennifer Lewis both submitted letters of resignation to the board.
Rudman wrote in her resignation letter that she felt “there has been a lack of communication between the board, Recreation Director Shannon Moxcey and Town Manager Vic Hodgkins,” including “a lack of returning emails and calls, to not following through on what has been asked.”
“I do not wish to be a part of a board where decisions are not made as a whole group,” Rudman wrote. “Lately, I feel like (Parks & Recreation Committee) meetings have been futile and I am done wasting my time.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Selectman Scott Buffington told the rest of the board, “It seems we have two different groups trying to do the same thing in different ways.”
“We have a Parks and Recreation Committee that reports to the selectmen, and a Parks and Recreation director who reports to the town manager,” Buffington said. “It seems like this structure is set up to fail.”
Hodgkins told Buffington and the board the “way the bylaws are written now, if the town doesn’t have a director for Parks and Rec, Krystall would serve as the de facto director and would report to the town manager.”
“Since we now have a director, the director reports to me and is at the head of the Parks and Rec Committee,” Hodgkins said, adding Moxcey’s serving as director “is a new dynamic, and it seems to me that there would be some growing pains here and there.”
“Could the communication be tightened up? You betcha,” Hodgkins said. “Unless we make wholesale changes to the committee bylaws, this is how it’s structured.”
Rudman, who attended Tuesday night’s board meeting, said she did not want to “waste my time anymore.”
“I feel like there’s no need for a recreation committee because Shannon’s already doing everything and doing a great job,” Rudman said.
However, Buffington and Selectman Gary Vaughn both said they did not want to lose Rudman from the recreation committee.
Vaughn suggested Rudman reapply to the recreation committee, and that the board, Moxcey, the town manager and the committee could discuss how to communicate better.
Rudman agreed to reapply, while the board voted to accept Lewis’ resignation letter.
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