Letter: Avoid appearance of conflict of interest

Avoid appearance of conflict of interest

I just want to commend the Select Board for keeping your promise to the townspeople to bring the number of select board members from three to five. This issue has been bandied around for years and it was great to finally get it done.

That said, Weston residents voted for the Route 30 Roadway Improvement Project at its inception and allocated $1 million of design fees and then an additional $600,000 of design fees at a subsequent town meeting for the project to proceed through the review and approval process to 100% design, approval and funding by the Mass DOT.

Based on this it is very clear that Weston residents are in favor of the Route 30 Roadway Improvement Project.

Lise Revers, current Select Board Chair, and Rebecca Mercuri, current member of the Traffic and Sidewalk Committee and a nominated Select Board candidate by Lise Revers at the Town Caucus, are both staunch opponents of this town project and are now trying to oppose the project through their elected and selected positions. When you are representing the townspeople, you cannot pick and choose what projects and initiatives you want or don’t want based on how it will impact you personally. You and any other members of town committees or boards should do the right thing and recuse yourselves from all proceedings regarding the Route 30 Roadway Improvement Project and any other projects or initiatives that you aren’t able to be impartial on, to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest which could lead to an ethics violation and fines by the State.

Please recuse yourselves from any proceedings as representatives of Weston residents on boards or committees that you have a conflict of interest as you represent us in the elected and selected positions you currently hold.

Jonathan Buchman, Sylvan Lane