In the event of a tie vote, should Democrat James Gaston chair the newly elected Board of Finance based on the fact that he received the most votes on November 3, or because he spent several terms as finance board vice chair before he sought and served two terms on the Board of Selectmen?

Or does Republican John Godin deserve consideration after being reelected as the finance board’s only incumbent?

Or might any of the board’s newcomers — Republicans Mark Boland and Sandy Roussas and Democrats Kelley Johnson and Aaron Carlson — best serve to lead this highly influential and primarily advisory panel?

While these questions will be left unanswered until after the new slate of elected officials take office December 1, one thing is certain. There is at least a potential for a split vote on the 3-3 Board of Finance when it comes to electing a chair, and no formal provision to resolve such a stalemate according to Town Attorney David Grogins.

“There is nothing in the charter,” Mr Grogins told The Newtown Bee after a November 4 query. “And if this reverts to the statutes, Robert’s Rules apply, but Robert’s Rules do not answer that question — and there is apparently no tie-breaker [provision] in the finance board’s guidelines.”

It is certainly an important, although awkward, question to consider, especially for the two most experienced individuals serving for the next two-year term.

“We’re definitely in uncharted waters,” Mr Godin said. “But my hope is we will come out of this with an appropriate conclusion that will make sense.”

“If I get nominated, I would accept that,” Mr Gaston said. “If it comes down to a discussion over three and three, I think we’ve seen this situation in the past on the Legislative Council some years ago and it gets worked out. I’m not exactly sure how it will be worked out, but I think there should be six reasonable people on the Board of Finance who can come to a decision.”

On the latter point, Mr Godin concurred.

“The big challenge [for the board] is going to be the transition,” he said referring to the fact that four of the six newly elected finance board members have not served in elected office previously. “These are very smart people, but there will be a learning curve. For Jim, it will be a matter of reacclimating after being away four years.”

Mr Gaston recalled that the council split was resolved with the Republican serving the first year and the Democrat taking over for the second. But he deferred to the “restore balance” platform upon which his Democratic party colleagues ran and won a number of new seats across the ticket, saying that putting a Democrat in the finance chair seat might be appropriate.

“I think there are a lot of different ways to look at this,” Mr Gaston said. “There’s probably going to be a Republican chair on the Legislative Council, and there’s a Republican chair on the Board of Selectmen, so the voters…as a result of the vote wanted more balance and transparency — so one way to look at it is having a Democratic chair provides more balance for the public.”

Mr Godin looked to the board’s makeup in a different light, noting that for the first time two women will serve during the same term — bringing both balance and new perspective to finance board discussions.

“That certainly provides evidence of balance,” Mr Godin said. “But I believe we all come to the position with a sincere intent to improve our community. At the end of the day, if you come to the table with personal agendas, that’s a problem.”

“You could look at it as who got the most votes,” said Mr Gaston, who was top vote getter November 3. “Or you could go with who has the most experience. Ultimately it would be wrong to prejudge the whole chair position before you go to the meeting to hear what everybody has to say.”

Mr Gaston said it would not shock him if the GOP members supported a Democratic chair.

“Republican’s aren’t unreasonable,” Mr Gaston added. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the Republicans said, ‘He has more experience, he has more votes,’ and it promotes better balance for the town. If they want to make it a political issue, they will make it a political issue. Either way, the chair and vice chair should represent [a different] party.”