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Photo Pru Sowers
Provincetown selectman Pam Parmakian listens to colleagues respond to her announcement she is resigning effectively immediately. |
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Parmakian resigns Wednesday
Banner Daily Update Thurs. Mar. 20
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – In an announcement that shocked the town and her colleagues alike, selectman Pam Parmakian resigned Wednesday night, effective immediately. (See Parmakian's statement below.)
Parmakian, who was elected to the board last May, said she could no longer sit by and not participate in the on-going discussions regarding the development of affordable housing both locally and regionally. Because Parmakian works for Community Housing Resources, a for-profit affordable housing developer based in Provincetown, she has had to recuse herself from several discussions on the topic that came before selectman.
At a special meeting of selectmen Wednesday night, where the topic was how to finance municipal trash collection, Parmakian read a prepared statement announcing her resignation, a fact she had told her colleagues only moments before the meeting began.
“The outflow of year-round residents from Provincetown is of grave concern to me… Unfortunately, the public discussion regarding housing has been filled with rumor, misunderstanding and in some cases, outright lies…. As I’ve observed this conversation, I’ve realized that I cannot continue to remain silent regarding affordable housing in Provincetown. I believe it is the core issue that affects the stabilization of our community,” Parmakian read from her statement.
The announcement clearly shocked the other selectmen, who met in executive session just before Wednesday’s meeting where Parmakian made her decision known. The resignation now puts three of the five selectmen’s seats in play, as two slots are up for reelection in May. Incumbent Lynne Davies announced on Monday she would not run for reelection while incumbent Michele Couture did return papers to run for a third term.
Because Parmakian resigned after the deadline for candidates to return election papers, it is likely that a special election will be held in June to fill her seat. Town clerk Doug Johnstone will make a decision on a special election sometime today.
Board of selectmen chair Mary-Jo Avellar said Wednesday she was saddened to lose both Parmakian and Davies. She said the annual selectmen goal setting process that normally takes place after the May election will be postponed until the board has a full complement.
“The government always keeps going. It keeps trucking along,” she said.
Both Couture and Knight said that while they respected Parmakian’s decision, the town would miss her expertise and contributions. Davies said she sympathized with the difficulty of Parmakian’s decision.
“Knowing the kind of agony I went through, I can appreciation her decision. Everyone will miss her background and knowledge,” she said.
After her announcement, Parmakian immediately left the boardroom. She told the Banner afterwards that when she ran for election last May, she hoped she could make a contribution. However, the fact she could not participate fully in board discussions concerning not only affordable housing but economic development, reorganizing the schools and other issues currently facing the town – which she said all have a housing component – she came to believe she would be more effective as a housing advocate than a selectman.
“I don’t get to speak on whole issues. I get to speak on half issues. When I talk about stabilizing the town, I can’t talk about housing. I’m a housing expert. When I can’t talk on the issues, it’s incredibly frustrating,” she said.
Parmakian’s resignation statement
When I made the decision to run for selectman a year ago, I believed that I could make a valuable contribution to the stabilization of our community. I have years of successful fiscal management experience in various business settings in Provincetown, a solid knowledge of the property assessing principals along with municipal financial practices.
In addition, I am one of the few individuals in town who have expertise in affordable housing management and compliance administration due to my employment as the property management coordinator at Community Housing Resource.
This last point has indeed posed potential conflicts of interest for me serving on this board. This is why, even before I was elected, I contacted the State Ethics Board to obtain an opinion regarding what I can and can’t speak to when housing policy discussions come before the selectmen. I received a detailed letter from them, which provided me with clear instructions on when I needed to recuse from policy discussions. To the best of my understanding, I have followed these instructions thoroughly for the past year and I am fully confident that I have acted appropriately and been respectful of State Ethics Guidelines.
Housing issues continue to dominate public discussion and with good reason. The list of households seeking affordable housing continues to grow and when faced with no options, many individuals are leaving town. The outflow of year round residents from Provincetown is of grave concern to me and I believe this trend is a de-stabilizing force in our community. It affects our workforce, our schools, our seniors in fact our entire population. The very fabric of our community is being threatened.
Unfortunately, the public discussion regarding housing has been filled with rumor, misunderstanding and in some cases outright lies. I have found this enormously frustrating because I care deeply about this town and the families who live here.
As I’ve observed this conversation, I’ve realized that I cannot continue to remain silent regarding affordable housing in Provincetown. I believe it is the core issue that affects the stabilization of our community. This is why I ran for office and this is why I can no longer sit on this board.
Therefore, I am submitting my resignation effective immediately.
Before I conclude, I want to say that this board has worked diligently to prepare a level funded budget for town meeting. This was no small feat. We started with a deficit of over $900,000. Countless hours were put in by Sharon Lynn, David Gardner, Alex Heilala, and the Finance Committee, among others. There were fixed costs over which we had no control and we had to make hard decisions to preserve valuable services and the employees who deliver them. Valuable services are being presented as overrides so that the voters can decide whether they want to pay for them or not. I urge the voters to support these overrides, as I believe these services are critical to the functioning of our town.
In conclusion, I want to thank the voters who believed that I could make a contribution toward stabilizing our community. This past year has taught me that I will be most effective as an advocate for the Provincetown community by sitting on the other side of this table. I would like to again reiterate this was a very personal decision, which is mine decision and was made without any influence from anyone on this Board or any other outside parties.
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Mar 20th, 2008