Town Administrator Cody Haddad provided a recap of the special Dartmouth Select Board meeting held on June 8, 2026. The meeting had a single agenda item: the possible revocation of the appointments of three members of the Russells Mills Historic District Commission—Gerard Coupe, Janet Stanton, and Mike Wojcikowski. This action followed a previous decision concerning another member, Mr. Spawnberg, on June 1st. The review was prompted by violations of the open meeting law and ethics concerns. Attorney Savastano, representing the town, explained that the commission members had authorized litigation without a proper public meeting and without using town counsel, a move that has cost the town thousands of dollars. Further concerns were raised about Ms. Stanton and Mr. Wojcikowski, who, as abutters to a property, voted on a decision concerning it, which is a violation of Massachusetts ethics laws. The Select Board expressed concern over the lack of transparency and the undermining of public trust. After discussion, the board voted unanimously to remove all three members—Coupe, Stanton, and Wojcikowski—from the Russells Mills Historic District Commission. This decision leaves the commission without a quorum. To address this, the Select Board will make temporary appointments at its next meeting on June 15th to ensure the commission can continue to handle applications in a timely manner. The next regular meetings are scheduled for June 15th (rescheduled from June 22nd) and July 13th.
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Hello Dartmouth, Cody Haddad, town administrator here to give you a recap on the June 8th, 2026 Select Board meeting. Uh this was a special meeting held um with one item on the agenda.
0:17The item was the possible revocation of appointment uh to the Russells Mills Historic District Commission.
0:22There were three individuals that uh were being considered for removal, Gerard Coupe, Janet Stanton, and Mike Wojcikowski. Um the Select Board previously took action on Mr. Spawnberg at the June 1st Select Board meeting due to um the violations of the open meeting law and ethics concerns.
0:42Uh Attorney Savastano was present for the town of Dartmouth.
0:45He gave a recap of of where we have been with the Russells Mills Historic District Commission and the reason that we were essentially the Select Board was there to to make a decision on the possible suspension and revocation.
0:57Um what has happened over the last several weeks is that the Russells Mills Historic District Commission violated the open meeting law in that they had a a meeting of some sorts, whether it be uh communicating through the telephone or via email, where they um discussed and and authorized that the chairman and and Mr. Spawnberg move forward with litigation on behalf of the Russells Mills Historic District. They
1:22were not authorized to do so because they didn't do so in an open meeting. Uh they also did not utilize town counsel. They they filed it uh for on behalf of themselves.
1:32So, Select Board was really concerned.
1:34That has cost the town thousands and thousands of dollars um to deal with this unauthorized litigation. So, the Select Board was concerned these three members all violated the open meeting law um when they had that discussion and authorized the litigation. The other concern um regarding uh Ms. Stanton and Mr. Wojcikowski is that they um were abutters of a property that they recently provided decision on,
2:03which is in direct violation of the Massachusetts ethics laws. And so the select board had a full conversation regarding these matters, but really was concerned that we operate in transparent times.
2:18We are very transparent with the public.
2:20We want our community to know what's going on. Now, that's the only way the government works, particularly local government here in Massachusetts, and and we really put an emphasis on that here in Dartmouth. And so the select board was concerned that the process was not followed. You know, ethics are are in place for a reason to promote not just transparency, but trust in government.
2:41And by undermining that, the select board essentially did determine that they would be moving forward, and they did vote to unanimously remove all three of these members from the Russell's Mills Historic District Commission.
2:53With that, there will be a less than quorum on the current commission. We will be meeting on June 15th, which is our next regularly scheduled meeting. It did change from the 22nd. And the select board will be making some temporary appointments to the Russell's Mills Historic District Commission to ensure that any applications that come in are dealt with in a timely manner, and we'll be following the process
3:13through the town's bylaws that lay out how we are supposed to get recommendations for appointments to the Russell's Mills Historic District Commission. That was the only item on the agenda. Like I said, our next regularly scheduled meeting will be June 15th. That was moved from the 22nd.
3:29Thereafter, it'll be on July 13th.
3:31Uh I hope everyone is enjoying summer here in Dartmouth. It seems as the weather has finally broken.
3:37We had a successful town meeting. Thank you to those that came out. We had some great dialogue, and we're very excited to get into action and continue to move the town of Dartmouth forward. We'll see you next time.