The Londonderry Town Council voted 3–2 to table several proposed policy changes brought forward by Town Manager Shaun Mulholland, setting aside the documents for now but leaving open the possibility of revisiting them at any time. Councilors Dan Bouchard and Deb Paul opposed the motion, while the remaining three councilors supported pausing the discussion.
Council Chair Ron Dunn emphasized that tabling the policies does not end the process. He explained that any three councilors could bring the items back for discussion whenever they feel the time is appropriate. “It’s just on the table until further notice,” Dunn said, noting that the Council intends to return to the policies at a later date.
Vice Chair Shawn Faber said his preference is for the Town Manager to focus on day-to-day operations rather than drafting policy proposals. “We would prefer the Town Manager to focus on managing operations of the Town under the Town Council direction, not crafting policies,” he said. Dunn echoed that sentiment, saying the expectation is simply to revisit the policies down the road.
Councilor Deb Paul pushed back, saying she believed the Council was prepared to discuss the policies that night. She argued that the ethics policy, in particular, is one of the most important documents the Council needs to finalize, noting that significant work has already gone into it, including feedback from residents and employees. Faber agreed that the ethics policy is the most compelling of the proposals and should be taken up again in the future.
Paul said she views all of the proposed policies as important and had expected the Council to review them in detail. Faber responded that the Council needs to decide whether it wants the Town Manager involved in policy development at all, saying that at the moment, policies are being “thrown at them” without clear direction.
Mulholland disagreed with that characterization, saying the administration has been working on the proposed policies for some time and that staff have invested “an enormous amount” of time into them. “Now it seems we’ve changed the direction. This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he said during the meeting.
Mulholland also stressed that if the Council wants to give him direction on public policy issues, those conversations should take place publicly. “It’s not secret scroll stuff,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a non-meeting with that. That’s absolutely not correct.” Faber countered that the Council does have the ability to hold a non-public meeting when discussing direction for the Town Manager, though he did not elaborate on when that would apply.
A list of the tabled policies is available on the March 16 agenda on the town’s website. Their next meeting is scheduled for April 6.