An emergency meeting about a pricey Henniker paving project was broadcast live on Facebook on Wednesday because a selectman was concerned the public was not properly notified.
Selectman Ben Fortner streamed the video of an 11 a.m. meeting about halting the paving on Western Avenue to allow for drainage work to be done. He said he made the effort because there would be no audio of the meeting, and no one was in attendance to take down minutes.
“Given the lack of notice, local media’s plethora of towns to cover, and the timing of the meeting, it seemed like the right thing to do,” Fortner wrote in an email.
The meeting was called after Jennifer McCourt, a civil engineer who helped design the project, expressed concern Tuesday night about the road being paved before the surface drains were installed.
The morning meeting became tense after Road Agent Tom Weston accused the select board, specifically board vice chairwoman Tia Hooper, of undermining his control of the project.
“Why am I even here?” he asked the board, according to the audio. “You question every little thing I do as a department head. … Since Day One, Miss Hooper, you question every single thing that I do.”
He later added: “If I’m failing at my job, then do something about it. If not, let me do my gosh-darned job.”
“I’m not attacking you as a person, I’m questioning certain things that are being done,” Hooper said to Weston during the meeting. “I am a member of this board, and I do get phone calls about this. … When it comes to this kind of expense, we need to make sure things are being done right.”
Select board chairman Kris Blomback sided with Hooper. He told Weston he had received multiple phone calls, texts and emails from people with “technical backgrounds” who were concerned about how the project was being done.
Weston and Hooper declined to comment for this article.
Voters approved $100,000 worth of improvements to Western Avenue between the bridge and Colby Hill in March. The overall project is estimated to cost roughly $450,000. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by September.
McCourt, who was not at the Wednesday meeting, said Tuesday night that the project’s design had called for the drains to be installed prior to paving, and she was concerned that going out of order would impact the structure of the road.
The board decided, 4-1, to hire Mike Bean of MA Bean, LLC, who had worked on the project previously, to install the underdrains. Town Administrator Chris Trovato said the board is allowed to “extend” Bean’s contract, provided that he was willing to work for the same rate he bid on the previous work he did for the project.
According to Blomback, Bean was hired for $90 an hour, although Blomback said he was unsure how much Bean’s work would add to the overall expense of the project. He estimated that paving would be halted by roughly two weeks while the drains are installed. However, there will be cost added because Pike Industries, who is responsible for the paving work in the project, will have to regrade the road.
“The process had some hiccups straight out,” Blomback said. “We’ve never taken on a project of this size before; there were bound to be some mistakes along the way. … We’re still going to finish on time and on budget.”
Fortner disagreed, arguing during the meeting that there was no need to spend more money and to possibly jeopardize the project’s timeline. He also questioned the need to place the drains first when a representative from Pike Industries and Weston both said the adding of the drains after the paving would not impact the outcome.
“There’s no reasons other than this board deciding last night at the final hour, based on zero physical evidence … to stop this project,” Frotner said.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ActualCAndrews.)