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Source: Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.儲存Dec. 27--HYANNIS -- Barnstable Town Council elected new officers last week but only after former council President Debra Dagwan claimed there was behind-the-scenes maneuvering to oust her from the position she had held for the past year.Dagwan, who has served as the Precinct 8 councilor since 2009, lost the presidency of the 13-member board to Precinct 7 Councilor and recent Vice President Jessica Rapp Grassetti 8-4. Precinct 1 Councilor Ann Canedy was elected as the new vice president with 10 councilors voting for her, Councilor James Tinsley from Precinct 9 abstaining and Dagwan saying nothing.Newly elected Precinct 2 Councilor Eric Steinhilber was not at the meeting because his father had been killed in a car accident in Georgia two days earlier."For me this stinks of partisanism, racism, classicism and negativism," Dagwan said during a speech before the Dec. 19 vote.Dagwan, Canedy and Rapp Grassetti ran for president. Canedy and Rapp Grassetti also ran for vice president, which Dagwan claimed as proof that there was a drive afoot to dislodge her."It's been strategized so the only person who will lose in this situation is me," Dagwan said.Before Dagwan spoke, Canedy withdrew her own name for the presidency and threw her support behind Rapp Grassetti.Canedy has been on the council since 2003, and Rapp Grassetti was first elected to the council in 2011."Openness, honesty and citizen involvement are my top priorities and will be if elected," Rapp Grassetti said prior to the vote.She is honored to serve as president but surprised and disappointed by Dagwan's comments, Rapp Grassetti said Thursday.Besides saying she was not part of an effort to push Dagwan out, Rapp Grassetti declined to comment further on Dagwan's statement."Nothing more needs to be said about that," Rapp Grassetti said.The new council appears eager to work together, Rapp Grassetti said, adding that the workshops the council has used to discuss issues have been productive.Dagwan did not return a message left for her on Thursday.During her extensive comments last week, however, Dagwan said she had stepped u迷你倉 to take the presidency a year ago when nobody else would."I didn't manipulate anything to get that vote, and I got it unanimously," she said. "That means people trusted me."She succeeded Precinct 4 Councilor Frederick Chirigotis, who had been elected president an unprecedented four years in a row.Dagwan alluded to bullying on the council and said that, although she had not filed a formal complaint, she had contacted the state attorney general's office to find out if anything inappropriate had occurred in the run-up to the elections."I will not join the mean girls club or the bully club," she said. "We don't have the right to intimidate any councilor up here."On Thursday, Canedy declined to comment on the specific statements Dagwan made during last week's meeting but said Chirigotis' extended presidency may have led to confusion."She maybe kind of believes that that's the norm," Canedy said.Instead, the council leadership should change more frequently, Canedy said."It was just for me a matter of getting back to the way we used to do it," she said. "I didn't think it was healthy."The council has a lot of pressing issues to address and, between the 2011 election and the most recent election in November, it appears the panel is in a good position to do so, Canedy said."Hopefully we'll get back to civility," she said.The board's 13 councilors are typically elected to four-year terms and earn $8,000 a year. The president earns $12,000 and the vice president $10,000.Because of redistricting based on the most recent U.S. Census, councilors in odd-numbered precincts were elected to two-year terms in November. Councilors in even-numbered precincts were elected to four-year terms.Prior to the 2011 election, the council was divided on a series of internal issues, including a controversial buyout package for former Town Manager John Klimm. Since that election, the council has appeared to get along better, including during Dagwan's tenure as president.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Mass.) Visit the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Mass.) at .capecodonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉