SOUTHWICK — During a joint meeting of the Select and Planning boards on June 23, members of both boards unanimously chose Giovanni Allsop to serve as associate member of the Planning Board instead of former Select Board member Jason Perron who applied for the position.
“His skills are very transferable to this [board],” Select Board member Diane Gale when making the motion to appoint Allsop.
“I think he can bring a fresh set of eyes, particularly to the review of the [zoning] bylaws,” Gale added.
The boards were meeting a second time to decide on an associate member after delaying a final decision the prior week when questions were raised if Perron could be appointed so soon after leaving the Select Board.
Because Planning Board member David Spina didn’t attend the joint meeting last week, he asked Allsop and Perron why they wanted to serve as the board associate.
Allsop, who works with Berkshire Bank, said that with his background of following banking rules, regulations and procedures, “I feel like [my experience] relates to this.”
“I moved here about a year and a half ago, so I would like to volunteer to get into the community and I thought this would be a good way to do this,” Allsop said.
Planning Board member Diane Juzba asked Allsop how he would handle working with the five members who each have different opinions but must work together.
“I would listen,” Allsop said.
Spina then asked Perron the same question about why he wanted to serve.
“Just to stay involved. And watching the Planning Board meetings … I find them intriguing. I enjoy the banter and debate,” Perron said.
“Coming from that side of the table, it gives me a little more insight, and knowledge that other folks might not have and gives me a different point of view that other definitely wouldn’t have,” Perron said referring to his three years of serving on the Select Board.
Select Board member Douglas Moglin explained that serving as an associate member is a good way to learn, it also can be frustrating because the associate only votes on issues when needed, like when another board member has a conflict of interest and must recuse themselves from deciding on a special permit.
“Are you OK with that?” Moglin asked Perron.
Perron said, “Yes,” and he wouldn’t want to get involved with something if he couldn’t offer his input.
“As long as I can speak my voice, even if it doesn’t count, there’s an opportunity to do that,” Perron answered.
Just prior to the boards’ members making a decision between the two, the town’s Chief Administrative Officer Nicole Parker said she needed to address an issue that Moglin raised at last week’s meeting.
Moglin asked if the town’s two political parties are given an opportunity to put forth a candidate for the formerly open board seat, calling it a “past practice.”
Moglin asked the question immediately before both boards appointed former Town Planner Marcus Phelps to fill the open seat that had been held by Richard Utzinger, who resigned last month.
Gale and Planning Board Chair Jessica Thornton both said they had never heard that the political parties needed to be told of the opening.
Parker said during the meeting that Town Clerk Christie Myette had found that the town’s political parties did not have to be contacted when there is a vacancy on an elected board.
“Thank you for clarifying it,” Thornton said.
Moglin then responded.
“Past practice doesn’t mean it was the law. It was our past practice in the town of Southwick that this is how we’ve done it. Doesn’t mean that we did anything wrong. Just that we did not follow past practice for this appointment and the other appointment that was done last week. It’s totally at the purview at the Select Board to do so,” he said.
As Moglin paused momentarily, Gale addressed him.
She said there was “no recent recollection that has been a practice either.”
Moglin said, “OK,” while shaking his head.
Thornton then reminded the boards that it’s been “pretty public” the Planning Board needed to fill several seats over the last several months.
“I feel like everybody had an opportunity to put forth a candidate,” Thornton said before asking for a motion to decide between Allsop and Perron.
Gale made the motion to appoint Allsop. Thornton asked for a second.
When no one spoke up, she seconded Gale’s motion, before the board appointed Allsop.
Thornton thanked Perron for his interest and told Allsop he needed to be sworn in the following day by the town clerk so he could participate in that night’s meeting.
Phelps, who was recently appointed, will serve on the board through May 2026. He will need to stand for election if he wants to remain in the seat.
In January, Michael Doherty and David Sullivan abruptly resigned from the Planning Board. Juzba, who had been serving as the board’s associate member, was appointed to fill the remaining four-year term of Sullivan but was required to run for the seat in the May municipal election, which she won.
Planning Board member Jason T. Grunwald was elected to Doherty’s open seat, which has a five-year term.
