Registrars find no cause for Awad, Hubley probe

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on July 11, 2008

The Board of Registrars found no grounds to ask Select Board member Anne Awad and husband Robie Hubley to defend their residency and voting rights, but businessman Larry Kelley said he'll just take his challenge to the next level.

Registrars Harry Brooks, Gladys Rodriguez and Joyce Crouch voted unanimously that there was no need to have a further meeting on the subject, following a half-hour discussion of the matter on July 3.

On July 4, Kelley, who is in China with his family adopting a daughter but keeping up with the local news, sent an email to the state attorney general, Martha Coakley, asking her to take action.

"Obviously the proceeding was far from impartial and if allowed to go unchallenged will undermine the confidence of Amherst voters in our system of democracy," he wrote of the registrars' July 3 decision.

The registrars were required to hold the meeting and vote, because Kelley had filed a complaint questioning whether Hubley and Awad are primary residents of Amherst. The couple has taken a mortgage and filed a Declaration of Homestead on a South Hadley home that the pair recently purchased, proof Kelley said that it's their primary residence.

The declaration allows homeowners in Massachusetts to protect their property up to $500,000 of the value of their primary residence.

Awad has announced that she would resign her seat effective Aug. 31, although her term ends in April, because she has been "stalked" and "harassed" by a citizen, and will eventually move to South Hadley but lives in Amherst now.

Awad and Hubley attended the July 3rd meeting, but as it was not the venue to make or defend their case, Town Clerk Sandra Burgess said, they did not speak until after the registrars voted.

As evidence for his case, Kelley has asserted that the terms of their South Hadley mortgage require that Hubley and Awad occupy the house as of June 10. But Burgess said those terms are the banks' - not state law - and not relevant to their residency in Amherst.

As for the Declaration of Homestead, Burgess said, she has consulted town counsel who says he is "unaware whether there is any law on Homestead Declaration having to do with residency."

Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin, said in an interview that it is his understanding that the declaration would only be effective as a determinant of residency "if some court ruled that."

Hubley not only continues to own a condominium on North East Street, Burgess said, but Awad also owns a house on Pine Street. Even if the condominium were to sell next week, it would still not mean the pair were not residents of Amherst, Burgess said.

"There's nothing to say they're not living on Pine Street," said Burgess. Or they could be staying in a friend's spare room, the clerk said. From her perspective, Burgess said, Awad and Hubley could sleep over in the South Hadley house and spend time there. Residency is determined, in part, by where an individual says it is, she said.

Hubley thanked board members for their vote, saying, "I'm glad you asked the hard questions."

No matter what time of night a caller to the North East Street condominium tried to reach him, he would answer the phone, he said.

"I've never spent so much as an overnight in South Hadley."

He said that he and Awad have been "deeply hurt" and "lost a great deal of sleep over this."

"You've made the correct decision, and I thank you very much for that," Hubley said.

"Some day, I'll get my sense of humor back," Awad said.

Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.