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Gloucester: Council appoints Ronan as poet laureate; doesn't act on art committee's recommendation

By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff writer


City councilors never voted on the Committee for the Arts' finalist for poet laureate. Instead, they selected veteran literary personality John Ronan to serve the next two years as the city's successor to Vincent Ferrini.

Ronan, a North Shore Community College professor and Lyceum Committee member, was nominated for the position by Ward 2 Councilor John "Gus" Foote during Tuesday's council meeting. After discussion, the council voted 7-2 to appoint Ronan.

Foote made the motion to appoint Ronan despite a recommendation from the Committee for the Arts to select Ruthanne "Rufus" Collinson for a two-year term to the honorary post. The position became open after Ferrini, the city's first poet laureate, died in December.

City Council President Bruce Tobey was frank in explaining his reasons for voting in favor of Ronan.

"I have the ability to assess poetry," Tobey said. "I have read these poets. I do not delegate my vote, I vote for John Ronan."

Jackie Hardy, the Ward 4 councilor, said she thought everyone on the Committee for the Arts' poet laureate selection panel was a resident of Gloucester, but one was from Essex and another from Rockport. She gave her support to Ronan, adding "it is what my people want me to do."

A former member of the Committee for the Arts and host of the local cable television show, "The Writer's Block," Ronan did not attend the council meeting and first heard the news by telephone call.

"I'm very grateful to the council and councilors for their confidence in my writing and work in the community," Ronan said yesterday. "Especially to Gus, who created the position before any of the other arts organizations thought of it and to Bruce for his leadership.

"Collinson is a very fine writer and a wonderful person and I think both of us were victims of the Committee for the Arts' missteps and I hope the council's examination of this issue leads to some reform," Ronan added.

More than two dozen people attended Tuesday's meeting, many of them interested solely in the poet laureate decision. Several audience members clapped when councilors said something positive about the work done by the Committee for the Arts.

Collinson, who attended the meeting, said she was disappointed by the City Council's decision but believed it was important for the city to move forward.

"It was hard, I'm disappointed because I wanted to be able to serve," Collinson said. "The process was very confusing and was flawed enough that people are actually going to have to heal from it. I could see the strain in the councilors, too and thanked them for their work afterward. I know John Ronan and wish him all the best."

Collinson was unsure yesterday whether she would consider applying for poet laureate again and added it was a "real shame" the work completed by the Committee for the Arts was not acknowledged by the council.

Councilors Jason Grow and Joseph Ciolino cast the dissenting votes, citing their concerns over the controversial process.

Yesterday, Ronan said he would not take those votes personally.

"I have great respect for Grow and Ciolino for their positions and respect their service," Ronan said.

Before the vote, Grow indicated he was very conflicted.

"I know John Ronan and he has done great work for the city; for that, I was willing to vote for his nomination," Grow said Tuesday. "It was my idea to send this to the Committee for the Arts, I don't know if it was as transparent a process as it could have been. I will weigh in on the side of the Committee for the Arts, I think it's a message we need to send."

Grow's comments echoed Ciolino's remarks.

"This is a very critical decision. I can't support this tonight," Ciolino said. "It is about how the council regards committees. If we disregard the recommendation of this committee, then we are sending a message that the work they do doesn't matter."

Ward 5 Councilor Philip Devlin voted in favor of Ronan's appointment but admitted the process was flawed.

"Whoever is the next laureate, there will be a cloud over their head," Devlin said before the vote. "This process got botched."

Fallout from the vote took less than 24 hours to materialize.

Committee for the Arts Vice Chairman Sage Walcott, a published poet, offered his resignation yesterday in a letter to Mayor Carolyn Kirk and Committee for the Arts Chairwoman Judith Hoglander.

Walcott cited the action taken by the City Council on Tuesday night concerning the poet laureate position as his reason for resignation.

In the letter, also received by the Times, Walcott said the City Council asked the Committee for the Arts to formulate and act upon a selection process for any and all succeeding poet laureates. The committee undertook responsibility and spent "a great deal of time and effort in formulating this process."

"At last night's council meeting ... the council entertained a motion from Councilor Foote to name an entirely different individual as poet laureate without even acknowledging, addressing or acting upon the nominee selected by the Committee for the Arts," Walcott said.

"It is clear that the council, with the exception of the two dissenting votes of Councilors Ciolino and Grow, does not honor or respect the work of its voluntary committees or their members," Walcott continued. "It is intolerable for me, at least, to continue to waste my time and effort on matters which are irrelevant and meaningless to the City Council."

Collinson called Walcott's resignation a "tremendous loss" yesterday.

Last week, Tobey said he hoped in the aftermath of the poet laureate situation the City Council, through its Ordinances and Administration Committee, would communicate with the Committee for the Arts to establish a permanent poet laureate selection process for the future.

With the poet laureate position carrying only a two-year term, the clock is already ticking.

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com. Staff reporter Patrick Anderson contributed to this story.