Former Selectman and now former Tree Warden Steve Gonsalves has resigned from his elected position as tree warden, Town Administrator Paul Dawson announced during the April 17 Marion Board of Selectmen meeting.
In his April 10 letter to the board, Gonsalves simply stated that he was resigning “effective immediately” and provided no further information.
Gonsalves could not be reached the night of April 17 after the meeting and did not return a voicemail request for comment in time for deadline.
Gonsalves resigned as selectman on February 22 after a bout of contention with the other two selectmen and the town administrator, but had in a follow-up interview expressed enthusiasm for continuing to serve the Town in the capacity of tree warden.
The board accepted his resignation and will begin accepting letters of interest in the position by Marion registered voters, who can be appointed to serve until next year’s annual election when that appointed person may run for election for the remaining one year of Gonsalves’ three-year term. After that, a run for election for the full three years may follow.
Anyone interested in serving as tree warden may contact the Board of Selectmen through a letter of interest.
In other matters, the board approved the process for a wetlands delineation at the end of Benson Brook Road in preparation for the scheduled construction of one of the three sludge lagoons at the wastewater treatment plant.
The area, specifically, is near the water tower where an existing leaf pile abuts the site where construction will commence.
“To move that we need to do a wetland delineation … because there are wetlands back there and we need to make sure we do this properly so we don’t further complicate things,” Dawson said.
Also during the meeting, the board approved Susannah Davis’ request to place two benches and a trash barrel near the retention ponds at Sprague’s Cove, now that the proposal has received approval from the Conservation Commission.
An accidental “melding” of two articles on the warrant was pointed out to Dawson, he said, and quickly rectified because the printer had not yet printed the warrant. The warrant was temporarily removed from the Town’s website, but it is now back on for residents to view ahead of the May 14 Annual Town Meeting at 6:45 pm at the Sippican School.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for May 1 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Jean Perry