Support Voiced For Former Rec Chair

ORLEANS – Public support was voiced for the town’s former recreation advisory committee chair last week, while some also criticized the town for the circumstances that led up to his resignation.

 Jamie Balliett resigned from the committee in a letter to the town clerk’s office Sept. 9. He was appointed to the advisory committee in May 2023, and completed his first term on the committee in June. 

 The select board on Sept. 23 formally accepted Balliett’s resignation with “sincere thanks.”

“I know I speak, and I hope the board will incorporate into the vote, a sincere thanks to Jamie Balliett for all of his service, including a project that is underway at Eldredge Park that he worked really tirelessly on,” board member Kevin Galligan said.

 In August, Balliett and members of the recreation committee voiced concern over news that Tom DeSiervo would be stepping down from his role as director of recreation culture and community events, as well as the town’s reported plans to explore regionalizing recreation offerings with the town of Brewster. That led Balliett to reach out to a recreation staffer and ask that they rally people to appear before the select board in opposition to the regionalization plan. 

 In emails shared with The Chronicle, Town Manager Kim Newman took issue with what she saw as panic and misinformation that spread around the town’s future recreation plans through communications to the public from recreation staffer Brendan Guttmann at Balliett’s request. DiSiervo, meanwhile, spoke out publicly about misinformation about his employment status in town and his role in helping facilitate discussions with Brewster during the select board’s Aug. 26 meeting. DiSiervo is no longer recreation director, but remains employed by the town.

 In an email, Balliett said that while the decision to resign was “painful,” he said doing so was best to allow the committee to “hit a reset button and move forward.” He also said that his attempts to apologize to Newman were “met with negative statements and impediments” that he believed were “not healthy for the town.”

"Orleans is a close-knit community that prides itself on its active citizenry,” he said. “Dozens of residents come to town hall to help make improvements, to solve problems, and to debate many topics. These volunteers are residents and need to be respected — even when they err.”  

Reached by phone Monday, Newman voiced her appreciation for Balliett’s work across a number of committees. But while the select board planned to meet with Balliett to discuss some “concerns about text messages and emails that were sent,” she said it was his decision to resign from the recreation committee.

“I think the key component here is the town didn’t ask him to resign and wasn’t planning on asking him to resign,” she said.

A number of people have publicly come to Balliett’s defense since he tendered his resignation, with some also laying the blame over the recent recreation confusion at the town’s feet. 

According to Tracy Murphy, who was appointed to serve as the recreation committee’s interim chair at its Sept. 17 meeting, Balliett’s ability to rally people around a cause spoke to his dedication to local recreation and the Orleans community.

 “Most of the people who have spoken at select board meetings or town meeting over those last three years, a lot of them have been because Jamie called them three times, emailed them five times and texted them eight times to ask them to do it,” she said. “He was relentless.”

 Murphy continued to praise Balliett’s work on the committee to the select board on Sept. 23,  including his work on the ongoing renovation of Eldredge Park. She said Balliett reached out to “scores” of community members and organizations to garner support for the project, construction on which officially got underway earlier this month.

 “When the park is finished, it will be a better, more inclusive, more accessible, more thoughtfully designed space for Jamie’s efforts,” Murphy said. “It will truly reflect our community members. And for that and all of his hard work, Jamie deserves our gratitude.”

 But Murphy, who also serves with Balliett on the Snow Library board of trustees, also said the “actions” taken in the days leading up to Balliett’s resignation were the most “bewildering and frankly upsetting” that she’d seen in her time serving in Orleans. 

 “It’s really an unhappy circumstance that’s brought us here, but I don’t think that should diminish his contributions,” Select Board Chair Mefford Runyon said of Balliett at the recreation committee's Sept. 17 meeting.

 Steve Gass also spoke in support of Balliett at the select board’s Sept. 23 meeting. He said he reached out as then-chair of the Snow Library board in 2020 to encourage Balliett to run for the board. He also noted Balliett’s service to other boards and committees, including the open space committee, conservation commission, the community center feasibility study committee and a working group on the Eldredge Park renovations.

 “He has worked tirelessly with the department of public works to make Orleans public spaces more accessible,” he said. “It was easy for me to see how Jamie’s passion and enthusiasm for the town of Orleans was a benefit for all of us.”

 Gass also suggested that Balliett’s resignation was spurred not by misinformation, but rather “a lack of information” about the town’s plans to explore regionalization with Brewster.

 “The town’s lack of transparency in this case, which some in the community believe is becoming a pattern, spurred confusion, alarm and quick action, perhaps too quick as Jamie later admitted,” he said. “But to lay the blame for the so-called misinformation around recreation on Jamie is misguided and unfair.” Gass said the town instead could have accepted Balliett’s apology and “moved on.”

 In his email Balliett said the select board’s role in strengthening the town’s relationship with its volunteer board members is “paramount.”

 “My hope is that more training helps,” he said. “But there’s an overarching need to work together proactively. What could the board and town manager have done differently? Collaboration is much more productive.”

 Newman defended the manner in which the town addressed the response to the recent developments around recreation.

 “We did have an incident that included employees of the town,” Newman said, referring to the circumstances around Balliett’s resignation. “And the town has a responsibility to protect their interests and ensure that the business of the town is handled as professionally as possible.”

 But she agreed that the select board must take the lead in putting the town’s advisory boards and their volunteer members in the best position to represent the community. Part of the effort includes revisiting the existing charges of all town committees and revising them as needed, a process that is already underway. The board is also working on developing a code of conduct for committee members, which was to be discussed at the board’s Sept. 30 meeting.

 The select board is also working with town counsel to provide ethics and Open Meeting Law training for all of the town’s board and committee members, which Newman said they are required to offer every three years. About a third of the town’s 171 committee members have not received such training, she said.

 The manner in which that training will be provided is still being discussed, Newman said.

“All of this to say, the town has to lead on this,” she said. “The town needs to set clear expectations. It needs to provide adequate training and legal support to these boards to make these volunteers feel appreciated for the work that they’re doing.”