Marion McEttrick has served on the Milton Board of Selectmen for 12 years. Last night she chaired her final session and cast her final votes. Selectmen Shields noted that the 12 years represented a record for consecutive service and said, “Your contribution has been great.”

Selectman Sweeney noted he had only served a year with Ms. McEttrick and “it was a quick year” but that, despite occasional disagreements, he was impressed with her committment, intelligence and courtesy.

To the two of them McEttrick said, “Thank you – that makes me feel great .  .  . [going forward] I know you’ll do the right thing, whatever it is.”

Representative Timilty appeared before the board to publicly thank Ms.McEttrick for her service. She will be replaced by whomever wins next Tuesday’s election. The candidates are Tom Hurley and Richard Livingston.

It was a fairly low-key session. The principal topic covered was in their capacity as trustees of the Governor Stoughton property. The Selectmen had been hopeful of rendering a decision before Ms. McEttrick stepped down; but it is not to be. They feel they need more time. Five proposals for developing the property to benefit the poor of Milton have been submitted. But as Shields noted, he had never been involved in a situation that had as many complicated permutations and nuance. McEttrick said, “I think we are almost there. . . but we need to take enough time to [select] the best possible solution.”

The selectmen acknowledged that they had whittled the 5 proposals down to 2. Selectman Sweeney said he was ready to make a decision but understood the others request for more time. The newly elected board member will need to come up to speed but the expectation is that a decision will be made in next 30 days. The selectmen have 120 days from receipt of RFP to come to a decision. Whatever the decision is it will need to be sent along to the Attorney General and Probate Court.

Other business included but was not limited to:

• Hearing from Michael Cunningham, the Veterans Affairs agent. Mr. Cunningham related a detailed account of an organization that was purporting to be a support group for veterans. However, information on the group, Massachusetts Veterans Emergency Fund (massvetsemergenccyfund.org) was hard to come by. Cunningham was successful in obtaining an audit statement which claimed 15% of the monies raised went to veterans. As Cunningham drily noted, 15 cents on the dollar isn’t a very good deal for the person making the donation. He encouraged residents receiving calls to be discriminating and “look under the hood.” He suggested to selectmen forming a veteran’s council that would ensure money raised in the name of Milton veterans from Milton residents actually went to the veterans the funds were meant to support.

from the Veteran’s Services web page:

Office hours for the Veteran’s Agent are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. However, the Veteran’s Agent is available 24/7 by cell phone (617) 251- 7767. Veteran’s services are available not only for members of the military, but sometimes for family members.  To discuss eligibility criteria for veteran’s services it is important to contact the Veteran’s Agent.

• The Selectmen voted to approve a lease for the East Milton Library to FAVA, an organization that provides community arts education.