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To the Editor:
On March 12, 2024, right here in Reading, Select Board Member Mr. Carlo Bacci and his supporters refused to allow the democratic transfer of power to new Board officers unless he was elected chair. This transfer of power through election of new officers is supposed to happen after every election. Moreover, Mr. Bacci insisted that he be elected chair for a full year not just until the next election. (There’s a special election on May 14 to replace Ms. Jackie McCarthy who has resigned from the Board.)
Mr. Bacci’s supporters heckled the other Select Board Members and disrupted the meeting repeatedly. The Chair had to call for recesses on multiple occasions and requested a police presence in an attempt to maintain decorum and civility. But Mr. Bacci’s supporters would not be deterred and Mr. Bacci did little or nothing to discourage his supporters’ disruptions and at times appeared to encourage them.
Ultimately, Mr. Bacci and his supporter on the Select Board, Mr. Haley, stalked out of the room when it became clear Mr. Bacci would not be elected chair. This brought the Select Board’s and the Town’s business to a halt. It made it clear that Mr. Bacci and his supporters are willing to paralyze our Town’s government and all the important things it needs to get done unless he is elected Select Board chair.
John Lippitt
Mineral St.
