At their meeting on April 5, the Somerville Board of Selectmen appointed Ralph Turner to act as road commissioner until the election later this month.
The current road commissioner’s term ended at Town Meeting this year, but no election was held due an administrative error. The road commissioner election will be held on April 29.
Several town officials made an almost identical comment concerning the election, saying everyone thought current Road Commissioner Jesse Turner had another year in his term. It wasn’t until it was too late to get on the Town Meeting ballot that officials realized his term was up.
Along with the selectmen, 14 town officials and members of the public attended the April 5 meeting to discuss the roads. At Town Meeting last month, many residents voiced concerns about the condition of Somerville’s roads.
“We need to get the roads passable,” David Stanley, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said at the selectmen’s meeting. “This is the field hospital. We’re just patching things up so we don’t lose more than what we have.”
The April 5 meeting followed some confusion last week over how work would get done until a new road commissioner is elected.
Jesse Turner did some work on roads after town meeting, but work was suspended on March 29 after Selectman Martha Staples voiced concerns about Turner working after his term expired.
“I told them on Tuesday, it’s not just my decision, there needs to be three selectmen deciding this,” Staples said at the meeting, and Ralph Turner corroborated. However, Ralph Turner said Staples then failed to return calls to let him know whether work should continue. Staples said Turner was supposed to contact Stanley.
“I was very disappointed that we lost a week of good road building weather,” Stanley said. “We had materials available, and people ready to work, and nothing got done.”
With Ralph Turner appointed to act as road commissioner, roadwork should resume and continue for the remainder of the month, officials said.
At least some of the work done after town meeting was done at the request of Mike Dostie, Somerville’s Fire Chief, Emergency Management Agency Director and Code Enforcement Officer.
Dostie requested that work be done to make Valley Road passable to fire trucks and ambulances, he said at the April 5 meeting. Dostie apologized for any confusion or conflict he may have created.
“As EMA Director and Fire Chief, it’s my responsibility to make sure we can get emergency services to people,” Dostie said. In the past, there has never been an issue with Dostie’s requests for work on a section of road that he deems impassable by fire trucks and ambulances, he said.
“We’ve always worked as a team,” Dostie said. “When someone’s asked to do work in an emergency situation, there shouldn’t be any issue with the town paying them for the work. I’m not going to watch someone die or watch someone’s house burn down when I knew a road was impassable.”
