A Small Island With Big World Problems

To the editor: I applauded the frankly heroic attempt that Hillary Rayport made to alter the composition of the Nantucket Planning & Economic Development Commission. One can understand from her example, even though ultimately successful, why so many Nantucket residents would be reluctant to enter the political fray, even if the issues have a direct effect on their own lives.

I have long argued that Nantucket has outgrown its current government structure, which might have been effective 20 years ago but is now showing definite cracks at the seams in 2026.

We are are now seeing the dysfunction in the recent changes to the Board of Health.

Erin Myers, in her carefully worded letter, makes several good points about the fight over the athletic field and its surface. I may actually agree with her about the use of synthetic materials rather than natural grass for the reasons she gives.

But then she calls out Meredith Lepore for publicly campaigning against the synthetic playing field. I will admit ignorance here, but I thought it was acceptable to take positions publicly as a member of a given body as long as one claims not to speak for that group. This happens all the time at Town Meeting. I have seen members of the Planning Board, for example, take a position when addressing the assembled voters, but being careful to state that they are not speaking for Planning Board.

The two members removed from the Board of Health also brought, in Erin’s words, “an extraordinary amount of knowledge, experience, and expertise to the Board.”

But, in my mind, there is a larger issue here and that is the composition of the Select Board itself. How can five people determine so much that happens in the Nantucket political system? Nantucket is now a small island with big world problems.

It can be debated whether those on the Board of Health should be appointed by the Select Board or should, for example, run for the office in an election. I am health care analyst so of course I value demonstrable expertise. No one would want someone on the Board of Health who did not have “an extraordinary amount of knowledge, experience, and expertise.” But I think that I would trust the voters not to pick an unqualified candidate for a board that requires such obvious expertise.

It was precisely a more representative NP&EDC that Hillary Rayport argued for and to a large extent got. But maybe the same principles should be applied to other important bodies. Maybe the Select Board should be expanded to nine members. But at the same time, maybe the Select Board should not have the power to appoint members of Conservation Commission and the Board of Health. Just as the former configuration of the NP&EDC placed too much power in the hands of the Planning Board, the current makeup and purview of the Select Board may give it too much power.

Nantucket is wedded to Town Meeting because there is the belief that it represents direct democracy. Town Meeting is an old and valued New England institution. And yet the Select Board seems to be an anomaly. These are very hard working and responsible people but nonetheless five people cannot speak for all of the voters, or even a majority of them. Maybe nine cannot either but at least there can be greater representation.

Maureen Searle