I am writing this letter to explain to the residents of Longmeadow why I have resigned as the Chairperson of the Board of Assessors in Longmeadow.
I have been on the board for over 15 years. Over those 15 years I have gone to numerous educational classes to learn the practices and procedures of assessing for the purpose of becoming a proficient Board of Assessors. In other words, I took my position very seriously. As the chairperson I gave my recommendation to the Longmeadow Select Board to retain Mr. Foster as a BOA member. Even though Mr. Foster was only a BOA member for a year and a half, he was very competent in his stint as a chairperson, knowledgeable, fair, studious on the subjects at hand and, in my view, did a great job.
However, three members of the Select Board felt it was time for a change. Why the change? I guess you would have to ask them. My guess is that they felt there was something wrong or dysfunctional with the existing board. In the last Select Board meeting in December, they repeated that “it is good to have new eyes” and “a fresh start.” I took that as they were displeased with the results of our board and were looking to clean house. But I am not aware of any discussion that took place in an open forum or in the minutes of the Board of Selectman meetings.
I believe we as BOA members overviewing the Assessor’s decisions of values, assessments and abatements did an exceptional job, Mr. Foster included. I took exception to Mr. Zwirko, Mr. Levine, and Mr. Hemavathi vote as a no confidence that the board needed “new eyes” and “a fresh start.”
Those three Select Board members made either an irrational or a prejudicial decision in choosing an unknown quantity versus an established one. It is time to question the judgement of these three Select Board members. I think the citizens of Longmeadow should question the reasoning for choosing an inexperienced candidate rather than one who had experience, not just as a BOA member, but as a longtime resident and a previous Select Board member.
Michael Zeller
Longmeadow
