Tempers flared during a meeting of the Lynnfield Historical Commission when members of the Lynnfield Historical Society were dissatisfied with the town’s decision to not allow debate on the society’s claims and efforts to regain possession of certain items allegedly in the possession of either the town or the commission.
As Commission Chair Kirk Mansfield repeatedly explained to the society that it had been told by Town Hall officials that attendees were not to engage in debate over ownership claims, Society President Ron Sarro continually pressed for the commission to resolve the issue. He cited numerous issues the society had with the commission, including the town’s decision to take back management of the Meeting House, which Sarro said was “questionable,” Sarro’s claim that the society had been “evicted” and thrown out the Pope Richard Historic House, and his claim that the commission had committed “grand larceny.”
This meeting was tough to follow without a scorebook.
It began with Mansfield explaining the process selected by the town to settle ownership of the contested items. He said, “We are happy to listen to the comments, but we’re not going to get into a debate about each individual item.”
Mansfield said that he had been advised by Town Administrator Rob Dolan to direct the society to submit any evidence of ownership in the form of receipts or other proof to Dolan or Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin at Town Hall. Mansfield said the evidence would then be sent to Town Counsel Thomas Mullen, who would evaluate the society’s ownership claims. If Mullen were to determine that the evidence supports the society’s ownership claim, the property would “be handed over” to the society.
The contested items were not disclosed during the meeting.
In the case of missing or lost property, Mansfield said the town is willing to consider the society’s claims once it submits adequate information about the surmised location of the items in question to Dolan and Curtin.
Sarro immediately objected. He said he has spoken to the society’s lawyer, William Sheehan, and asked him if this could be sorted out with lawyers.
“We will get rid of our lawyer as long as we keep the lines of communication open … we should be able to get the low-hanging fruit tonight because if we can’t get complete resolution, let’s at least knock off as many items as we can. I’d like to get rid of lawyers,” Sarro said. “I don’t know why we can’t just resolve this between ourselves now.”
Mansfield reminded Sarro that the town’s position was that the commission was not to debate any ownership claims that night, and that the commission had been told only to advise the society to submit their documentation to Town Hall.
The reminder fell on deaf ears, with Sarro asking, “can’t you negotiate in good faith with us at this point?”
Mansfield answered affirmatively, but told Sarro, “You just have to go through them (Town Hall) to start the process. They do not want us deliberating.”
Sarro pushed on, saying the reason the society was at the meeting was to get “all the decision-makers in the room at the same time … so we can settle this tonight.”
For the fourth time, Mansfield repeated what he had said at the beginning of the discussion; that he was told by Dolan and Curtin that the society’s evidence must be submitted to them.
Sarro then asked if he could poll the individual members of the commission, to which Mansfield replied, “No. This is not a debate. We’re not going to go over this line-item-by-line-item. This is what I was told.”
Society Treasurer Bob Gillon interrupted and accused commission members of being “puppet(s),” saying “Can someone from this commission speak other than you (Mansfield)? That’s what I’d like to know … It’s all Kirk Mansfield speaking. If you people choose not to speak, you’re not representing the town.”
Gillon suggested the issue be put on the agenda for the next commission meeting and asked that a town representative be present. (Curtin had planned to attend the meeting, but due to circumstances beyond his control he arrived just as the meeting had ended).
Once again, Sarro persisted.
“This is crazy. This is our property. All we want is our property back,” Sarro said. “I agree you have every right to throw us out of the Pope Historical Center but you don’t have any right to keep our property … I’ve got proof right in front of me right now … how about we make a motion to settle this tonight?”
Mansfield reminded Sarro that the commission was acting on Dolan’s directive and told him, “Whatever you have, submit it to them.” But Sarro continued to push for debate, even after Mansfield said twice more that he was only doing what he was told to do by town officials.
“This is just a lame excuse for your guys trying to keep our property,” Sarro responded. He accused Mansfield of “blaming things on Dolan to cover up (his) lies” and declared that Mansfield wants to “destroy” the Gillons, following which the meeting was adjourned.
