LAKEVILLE — The Lakeville Select Board pushed back on a citizens’ petition article to expand the board from three members to five that will be voted on at the Nov. 14 Special Town Meeting.

Lakeville resident Brynna Donahue presented Article 26 during a Select Board meeting on Oct. 24. The issue will be voted on during Special Town Meeting.

“I don’t understand why we would have to go to five members,” Select Board Chair Richard LaCamera said. 

Donahue cited the fact that Select Board Member Lorraine Carboni has to recuse herself from discussions related to cannabis because she works in the industry. Carboni is a community liaison for Bountiful Farms. This leaves the Select Board with only two members to vote on issues related to marijuana, Donahue noted.

Donahue said that more viewpoints would be heard with a five-member Select Board.

“I don’t think it has to do with capability,” Donahue said. “I think it has more to do with accountability and difference of opinions.” 

LaCamera said he reviewed previous Select Board elections and found that in “a number of years, nobody ran against any member of the board.” He added that only one position on the board was contested in the last two elections.

“I don’t understand why you would want to make government bigger,” LaCamera said. “The opposite needs to be done.”

Proposals to expand the board have been made eight times and voted down each time, according to LaCamera. He said the most recent expansion effort was in 2018.

“There is some value in spreading the load,” said Lakeville Resident Dick Scott during public comments. He referred to Special Town Meeting Article 9, where the town will vote on whether the Planning Board can appoint an associate member to fill in for board members as needed.

Select Board Member Evagelia Fabian said different town issues cause “peaks and valleys” in people’s interest in local politics.

Fabian said that despite the “peaks” in interest related to the Lakeville Hospital and golf course during her tenure as a town official, she ran unopposed in her first three elections. She called the article “reactionary.”

“I would rather have three people who participate all the time than have people who don’t show up or resign,” Fabian said. “When I make decisions for government, I make them for every day, every year. I don’t make them based on one event. That’s what I see this as.”