The Somerville Select Board appointed John Bergen as an alternate on the town’s planning board Wednesday, Feb. 5, reinstating the former chair 10 months after he resigned during a pre-termination hearing.
The select board also appointed Michael Tesseo Jr. to the board and promoted alternate Evan Morrison to the status of voting member.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, Feb. 6, former Somerville Planning Board alternate Christopher Johnson resigned from the board, indicating in a letter addressed to the Somerville Select Board that his decision was due to Bergen’s reappointment.
Johnson said in the letter that Bergen had previously disregarded meeting law and contributed to a “hostile and abusive” work atmosphere for board members.
“I have no interest in being an associate member of the planning board nor being a party to its decisions under such circumstances,” Johnson wrote in the letter.
At Bergen’s pre-termination hearing in April 2024, members of the Somerville Select Board, including Johnson, who was then board chair, cited emails and a discussion between Bergen and the select board during an executive session in February 2024 to argue that Bergen had created a hostile environment on the planning board, targeted certain members, attempted to restrict member and public participation in planning board meetings, and exhibited bias. Somerville town counsel Mary Denison was present.
Bergen, who was also represented by counsel, denied the allegations and resigned before the hearing had concluded.
In his Feb. 6 letter, Johnson also suggested Somerville Select Board Chair Willard Pierpont was motivated to appoint Bergen by a conflict of interest related to Pierpont’s gravel pit on Patricktown Road.
“It is clear that select board chair Pierpont, who moved the appointment, is more interested in stacking the planning board to advance a personal agenda for his business than he is in appointing members who respect conducting town business in a non-abusive and legally compliant manner,” Johnson said.
Pierpont denied the allegation in a phone interview Monday, Feb. 10, when he said that gravel pit considerations were “not at all” a factor in his decision to reappoint Bergen.
“It wasn’t just me that appointed him,” he added.
Bergen, reached on Tuesday, Feb. 11, also expressed his disagreement, stating, “I have no deal with (Pierpont).”
However, he said he had generally and publicly been in favor of using Pierpont’s pit to produce gravel, with the idea that the gravel could be used on town roads.
The discussion of blasting and crushing at the pit to produce gravel has generally been contentious in Somerville at least since 2016, when Pierpont was issued a stop work order by Somerville’s then-code enforcement officer calling for a stop to rock crushing and blasting activities at the site, according to court documents.
Pierpont appealed the order before the Somerville Board of Appeals, and, when that appeal was struck down, he eventually appealed the decision in Maine Superior Court, according to the court filings.
The court ruled against Pierpont in June 2017, siding with the appeals board and declaring that rock crushing and blasting were not within the scope of allowed nonconforming uses for the site, according to the filings.
On Feb. 11, Bergen said he believed allowing rock crushing and blasting at Pierpont’s pit would save taxpayer dollars by eliminating trucking costs for shipping gravel and stated he had worked to draft a blasting ordinance during his time on the planning board to allow such activity.
In a phone interview Feb. 11, Johnson said while he was on the select board, he had encouraged the planning board to develop regulations to allow rock crushing and blasting while establishing restrictions, such as regarding noise level and distance from Somerville Elementary School, which is located on a lot adjacent to Pierpont’s pit.
However, he said, he and Bergen had differed in opinion during Bergen’s previous tenure on the planning board, when Johnson said the planning board had workshopped language that would allow blasting “with no conditions.”
That ordinance did not make it before voters, as progress halted when Bergen was no longer on the planning board, according to both Bergen and Johnson.
Pierpont said Feb. 10 that gravel pit considerations did not affect his decision to reappoint Bergen. He agreed to the move viewing it as an opportunity to “right a wrong,” he said. Pierpont added he believed the attempted removal of Bergen last April was unjustified and wanted to give the former chair a chance to resume planning board duties.
Disagreements over the timing of planning board meetings caused conflict among board members in early spring 2024 before termination proceedings were initiated against Bergen. Pierpont said there was disagreement among planning board members over whether Bergen should be removed from the board.
Jim Grenier Jr., acting chair of the Somerville Planning Board, declined to comment when reached by phone on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Bergen said he was informed of his nomination for reappointment by select board member Kathryn Jennings, who he said tapped him because of his experience on the board.
As an alternate member, Bergen will not have voting privileges on the board unless another member is absent. He said he was aware his reappointment might “cause controversy,” but said he was willing to step back on to the planning board and wanted to serve the town.
Johnson’s resignation leaves an alternate seat open on the planning board.
The next meeting of the Somerville Planning Board has not been scheduled.
The Somerville Select Board will meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at the town office.
For more information, go to somervillemaine.org or call 549-3828.
