An Abington resident is accusing multiple members of the Conservation Commission of breaking the law during a recent unannounced site visit to his property.
Town Manager Scott Lambiase said the Board of Selectmen received a complaint that four members of the Commission “harrassed, intimidated, and possibly assaulted” the property owner. The complaint will be discussed during a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and Conservation Commission Monday night at 5 p.m.
“As [Board of Selectmen] chairman, I received a complaint and think it deserves our attention and we have to deal with it as a board in a public hearing,” Board Chairman Kevin DiMarzio said, “that is why I called for a meeting Monday.”
A copy of the resident’s complaint was not made available.
Sources told Abington News that four members of the Conservation Commission visited the resident’s property to look at some recent activity on the site. The property owner alleges he was not notified about the visit. According to a source, the resident alleges that at one point during the visit a Commission member assaulted him by slapping the back of his hand.
Abington News is declining to name the Conservation Commission members included in the complaint until they are named publicly during Monday’s meeting.
The Conservation Commission is not an elected board, but is appointed by the Board of Selectmen.
Under the Abington Town Charter, members of appointed committees “may be suspended or, after notice and the opportunity for a hearing, removed from office, without compensation, by the appointing authority for good cause. The term “good cause” shall include, but not be limited to incapacity other than temporary illness, inefficiency, insubordination and conduct unbecoming the office.”
If the four Conservation Commission members are removed, it won’t be the first time the panel was undergone a major overhaul. Four members of the board resigned on the same night in 2013.
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