The article, which would be heard at Town Meeting on May 7, would eliminate the Stoneham Retirement Board and transfer its duties to the State Retirement Board. Employees would remain employees of the town.

Last year, freshman Selectman John DePinto, angered by the Board’s refusal to advertise for the board’s fifth seat, was the moving force behind the Town Meeting article. The Board had voted a new three-year term for 25-year Board member Janice Houghton. A local bank president, Houghton is the Board’s chairman.

DePinto said that, “It sounds like a Kangaroo Court to me. I can’t see how a Board could refuse to advertise and just snub their noses at the rest of us like that.” DePinto said he had nothing against Houghton and his frustration centered on the process.

Houghton explained that past practice has always been to ask the current fifth member if they wished to remain with the Board at the end of each term. “In the 25-years I’ve served on the Board, it’s never been advertised, and when they asked me if I wanted to stay, I said yes, I enjoy it and I work with a great group,” Houghton said.

This year, an article in a local paper, The Stoneham Independent, indicated that Board members Elsie Wallace and Jim McDermott plan to attend a national conference in Honolulu this spring. According to DePinto, the trip was another example of how the Board expends funding at the expense of retirees who could benefit from abstaining such a trip.

“Not so,” says Wallace. “We put some money aside for educational conferences, but I know that no Board member intended to go to Honolulu. However, we will be attending the retirement systems’ in-state school and conference this spring. It’s part of our duty.”

“Stoneham members can be assured that we will again work with the Board’s two elected members (Jim McDermott, Elsie Wallace) and any other Board members to defeat an attempt to abolish the Stoneham Board,” says Association President Ralph White. “It’s all about petty politics.”