Shakeup On The Board Of Health As Incumbents Ousted After Turf Field Saga

The Select Board has appointed emergency room nurse Kate Garrette and excavation and concrete company owner Ernie Strang to the Board of Health, ousting both incumbents who were seeking reappointment in what will likely be interpreted as a rebuke of how the Board has handled a controversial artificial turf field slated for installation at Vito Capizzo Stadium.

The incumbents, chair Ann Smith and vice chair Meredith Lepore, have both been criticized for their conduct during the Board of Health’s lengthy deliberations on the field. Both women proposed motions that would have at least temporarily halted the installation of the field, though neither motion was ultimately voted on.

“I had some concerns with some things that had happened at Board of Health meetings,” Select Board chair Dawn Hill told the Current.

The Select Board has now removed them both from their positions, with every member save Matt Fee voting for a pair of newcomers who have expressed support for the turf field.

“I think they’ve done a good job and deserve to be reappointed,” Fee said of the incumbents after the meeting. “I felt like they had navigated a very contentious, difficult situation, but I thought that they had come up with a fair and reasonable path forward.”

Garrette, an emergency room nurse and parent, has emerged as one of the field’s chief proponents and an outspoken critic of the incumbent Board of Health, and Strang, a licensed septic installer who owns Strang Excavation and Concrete, signed a pair of letters advocating for the field and against the Board of Health’s actions. One of those letters was co-written by Garrette.

Select Board member Bob DeCosta is also set to join the Board of Health at their next meeting, replacing former Select Board member Tom Dixon, who did not run for re-election this year. If DeCosta’s votes for Garrette and Strang are indicative of his position on the turf field, the Board of Health may now have a pro-turf majority, which could change the tenor of ongoing negotiations over the field.

The Nantucket Public Schools, which proposed the field, is currently negotiating a testing regime for the field and a related synthetic track with the Nantucket Land and Water Council, a local environmental nonprofit, and the two sides are close to finalizing at the least the first part of the deal. Until now, the Board of Health’s apparent skepticism of the field has served as a strong incentive for the school system to search for a middle ground, but that incentive may have significantly diminished with the removal of the two Board of Health members who have seemed to be the project’s strongest critics.

The final candidate, Nantucket Cottage Hospital chief nursing officer Amy Beaton, received no votes. Kit Murphy, who initially put her name in as well, withdrew before the vote.

At least part of the reason for Strang’s selection is likely his knowledge of septic systems. While it has been overshadowed by the turf field debate, the Board of Health recently restricted the number of allowable bedrooms in certain areas of the island by tightening septic regulations after nearly a year of debate. Although a compromise was eventually reached that met with the approval of the town’s Housing Department, that proposal initially drummed up some controversy of its own, with several town boards flagging the potential effects on affordable and year-round housing.

“I felt like there was a missing piece [on the Board of Health] of having someone who really understands the septic systems,” Hill said. “I also wanted to keep a nurse on there. I was open to either, but Kate [Garrette] had reached out to me directly to talk to me, so I always appreciate it when people ask me and talk to me.”

The turnover is especially notable given the Select Board’s general predisposition toward reappointing incumbents when they apply for seats on town boards.

“I always try to do what’s best for this community when I make my choices,” Select Board vice chair Brooke Mohr told the Current.

For some, the move may seem reminiscent of the series of changes the Select Board made to the Conservation Commission over the course of several years as that commission debated the Sconset Bluff geotube installation. At the time, some of the ousted members of the Conservation Commission, including two consecutive chairs, accused the Select Board of removing them in large part for their stance on the divisive geotube project.

Mohr and Holdgate voted with the majority of the Select Board to remove both Conservation Commission chairs, while Fee voted to support both chairs. Select Board members Jill Vieth and DeCosta, who voted for Garrette and Strang, were not serving on the Board at the time.

In another notable result, town of Nantucket deputy housing director Dylan Metsch-Ampel was appointed as a Planning Board alternate, replacing incumbent Stephen Welch, who withdrew his application before the vote. Ultimately, Metsch-Ampel’s application was uncontested, as local political strategist Clay Evans withdrew his application as well, and he was appointed by unanimous consent.

But Metsch-Ampel’s position as one of the town’s leading housing advocates makes his appointment to the island’s top regulatory authority on planning notable, especially after Welch’s recent strident opposition to a workforce housing development on Waydale Road.

“My planning practice is rooted in 1) negating implicit assumptions, 2) brainstorming creative solutions, and 3) taking steps to enact creative solutions,” Metsch-Ampel wrote in his application. “Planning and zoning are incredibly powerful tools that shape the lives of residents. The community is front and center in my planning practice.”

Metsch-Ampel would have to recuse on any applications where his job with the town’s housing department could prove to be a conflict.

The Select Board also made appointments to a series of other local boards, opting unanimously for continuity on the Conservation Commission and Finance Committee. Benjamin Reppert, the lone non-incumbent to apply for the available seats on those committees, was defeated by RJ Turcotte and Tim Braine for the former board and Joanna Roche, Martin McKerrow, and Rob Giachetti for the latter.

A number of uncontested seats, including positions on the Affordable Housing Trust, Zoning Board of Appeals, Capital Program Committee, Airport Commission, and Historic District Commission—as an alternate—were filled by unanimous consent.