By Carol Britton Meyer

More than three hours into the May 12 Hull Redevelopment Authority meeting, Dennis Zaia abruptly announced he was stepping down as chair, catching fellow board members by surprise.

“Now that the governor has reappointed Joan [Senatore] to the HRA, I would like to move to advance a slate of officers for the upcoming year,” he said.

Zaia immediately nominated former chair Bartley Kelley – who seconded the motion – without discussion of other nominations. He then nominated Dan Kernan and Adrienne Paquin as vice chair and clerk respectively in their then-current roles and Joan Senatore as treasurer, Kelly’s current role at the time of the meeting.

“I will [remain], as a member of the authority,” Zaia said. The motions were accepted on a 3 to 2 vote, with Paquin and Kernan voting against.

“Dennis, I prefer you stay as chair,” Paquin said.

“You’re tired of being chair?” Kernan asked.

Zaia’s response was simply, “Bartley will be chair at our next meeting on June 2, and I can take a breath. I will be at that meeting.”

After the vote, Paquin asked if that business item was on the agenda.

“It doesn’t need to be,” Zaia responded.

“It would have been nice to have notice, that’s all,” Paquin said.

Zaia said the vote was “appropriate since we had a member recommitted by the governor, and every time there’s a town election, [a reorganization] usually happens – when someone new gets on a board.”

During the citizens’ comment period at the end of the meeting, Zaia was strongly criticized by a number of people for not posting the reorganization of the board on the agenda and for not asking other board members if they an interest in any of the positions.

Resident C. Anne Murray noted that Zaia taking up this item after 10 p.m. was in sharp contrast to his announcement at the beginning of every HRA meeting that discussion on compelling subjects will not be addressed after that time.

“I’m appalled at what has happened tonight. Maybe I missed it, but this was the first mention I heard that Joan had been reappointed by the governor, and all of a sudden to put forward a full slate of officers when the other members hadn’t caught wind that it was coming and not having even five minutes to think about it felt totally inappropriate, Dennis,” she said, “and I have to call you out on it.”

Murray said she thought it would have been more appropriate if he had opened up that part of the meeting for nominations for the four positions.

“Yes, Joan was reappointed, and yes, usually there can be a change of officials, but doing it the way it was done tonight is not appropriate,” she said.

Murray suggested that the item be put on the next agenda and revoted in order to “do it the right way. I find this very upsetting.”

Audience member Susan Vermilya agreed.

“The vote tonight was very quick and unexpected and not on the agenda, and I was very disappointed at how fast that came along for such a vital change on the board,” she said. “It should have been put on the agenda first and then maybe voted on at the next meeting. It all happened so fast and furious that it didn’t really seem fair.”

Vermilya asked whether anyone on the board was aware of the vote to come prior to the meeting.

“I was,” Zaia responded. “It was not inappropriate.”

In response to Vermilya’s comment that she was “not sure this is legal,” Zaia retorted, “Of course it is.”

Vermilya also noted that others may have wanted to be considered for those positions.

“I think this should be on the agenda of a future meeting, and maybe the board would end up in the same place. Who knows? It feels like [other board members] were blindsided. Does any other member have feedback?” she asked.

Cutting Vermilya off, Zaia said, “I’m still chair until the end of this meeting in the next couple of minutes.”

Paquin said after the vote was taken, “It did feel very bad.” She noted that other boards “always put their reorganization on their agendas” so members can give it thought ahead of time.

“I’m not really happy myself, Dennis,” she said, “which is why I voted no, but you are going to just smile and move on, and that’s fine.”

In response, Zaia said he was “just looking forward to saying the meeting is adjourned, but I can’t do that until everyone has spoken their mind.”

Resident Mindy Markowitz told Zaia she was “in complete shock that you would pull such a thing. What were you thinking? You chose the person you wanted to be chair when it seems the logical choice would be at least to go to the vice chair first. … This is odd behavior on your part when it’s past 10 at night and you are tired and you know you should put it on the agenda.”

Whether he talked with anyone on the board about the vote to come or “just decided to spring it on everyone, it was a bad choice either way,” Markowitz said.

Zaia thanked each speaker for their feedback but did not respond specifically to their concerns.

Kernan thanked Zaia for stepping up in the chair role, saying “I’m very grateful.”

However, he said, “You really should not have done that. If someone else was interested, there should have been a discussion rather than a decision. If they were interested, I would have loved to have had a choice.”

Kernan added that he doesn’t think he could have handled being chair.

“I could have been asked, but you knew I didn’t want it, and you didn’t put me on the spot,” he said.

Paquin also said she was not asked about the vote beforehand.

“It came as a complete surprise, simply for the record,” she said.

A replay of the meeting is available on demand on Hull Community Television’s website, www.hulltv.net.

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