Personnel Committee recommends Gusterson for Retirement Board, postpones Youth Commission rewrite

MARLBOROUGH -- March 29, 2021, Marlborough Personnel Committee advances Gusterson to Retirement Board, holds Youth Commission rewrite. The committee voted 3-0 Monday to recommend Mayor Arthur Vigeant's appointment of Robert Gusterson, owner of Triton Financial, to a three-year seat on the Contributory Retirement Board overseeing a roughly $100 million pension fund, despite a Marlborough firefighters' letter asking for delay. Chair Samuel Dumas said the underlying issue was a 2-2 deadlock on the Retirement Board broken by the mayor; he moved forward to test whether the committee "respects the mayor's decision." Vigeant told councilors the only question was "to support Mr. Gusterson or not support Mr. Gusterson." The committee then postponed the mayor's rewrite of the dormant Youth Commission ordinance after splitting over whether to cap membership at five or restore seven seats, with Councilor Laurie Perlman urging seven and Councilor Don Landers content to "start with five."