Ill feelings on health board

One of the two remaining members, Christine Hickey, said the recent spectacle has turned all eyes on the dramatics of the health board, while the focus should be on filling the board, and completing their tasks for the town. Hickey and William Creighton are the two remaining members.

Hickey said she is trying to advance the appointment of a new board member, and as of Monday night’s selectmen’s meeting, one application was submitted. 

“There won’t be problems having things go forward,” Hickey said.

Three health board seats opened when former member Kathleen Sulmonte resigned Feb. 20, followed by the March 7 resignations of both Susan Brennan and Roger Atkinson, the former chairman.

Although neither Brennan nor Atkinson stated their reasoning in their resignation letters, Brennan stated in her resignation letter that she would be “glad to assist the board in the future… if anything changes in regard to personnel on the board.”

Atkinson’s letter also suggested personnel turmoil, and stated, “the continued dysfunction of this board has led me to this decision. I am sorry that I was unable to bring the stability that is so desperately needed for this board to effectively serve the people of Abington, It was not for a lack of effort.”

Atkinson was appointed to the board of health in October of 2006 after the former chairman, Anthony Pignone, resigned when he moved out of Abington. 

Pignone’s resignation followed a year of highly-publicized controversy between health board members, when health agent Michelle Roberts alleged that Pignone made inappropriate remarks in the presence of female town employees. This was then followed by a sexual harassment complaint.

According to Hickey, Atkinson’s resignation “crippled” the board of health, leaving less than a quorum.

“Susan and Roger decided to quit the board of health because of politics,” said Hickey. “They did not think about the town of Abington, they thought about their personal views. Doing so, they crippled the board of health because now we can not sign vouchers to get things paid for the town.”

Hickey said a full quorum is needed to sign bills and vendor vouchers so that services such as trash collection can continue in the town. The health agent may still cover other functions of the board, such as emergency situations.

“You can’t be spiteful and just walk off,” said Hickey. “(Atkinson) should have hung around and done the town’s work.”

Hickey said the town would have been better off if board of health members ignored personal issues, and continued on, even if just to sign vouchers, and did not speak following the meetings. The problems, she said, had existed on the board before she was elected in April of 2006.

“The fighting happened before I got on,” she said. “It just continued. It was unsolvable, everyone has tried, nothing has worked.”

“I think what happened is we had problems with the finances. We started to dig. The Inspector General (Gregory Sullivan) came in and said there was money missing.”

The money was estimated at $10,000, and collected from rabies clinic and propane tank recycling fees.

“That money could not be accounted for and it was supposed to be turned over to the treasurer collector. There wasn’t finger pointing, we were trying to make people who handle that money accountable for where it went.”

The well-publicized commotion continued as Roberts went to newspapers and said there was no money missing, she said. Inspector General Sullivan then requested that if the money was not missing, that Roberts explain where it is.

The board of health members then agreed with the Inspector General that the money was missing.