YORK - There will be no new appointments to the York Housing Authority until the Board of Selectmen has agreed on changes to that committee's selection process.

That was the decision of the majority of the selectmen at the board's most recent meeting, although the three selectmen who voted not to approve several currently pending appointments to the board stressed that their concern had nothing to do with the candidates themselves.

The selectmen's most recent meeting was held Nov. 19, and included an agenda item to appoint Jud Knox, Ellen Baldwin and Robert Palmer to the York Housing Authority as recommended by its board of directors. Selectmen Vice Chairman David Marshall raised the question about the process of appointing members to the YHA, stating, "Here we have an entity that isn't just like any other nonprofit. ... The difference here is this is a public nonprofit ... the stakeholders are the citizens of the town of York."

Marshall and fellow Selectmen Dwight Bardwell and Kinley Gregg agreed that the Board of Selectmen should not be a rubber stamp for appointments to the YHA but should have a more active role in the decision process.

The YHA board "as a voting body has not seen eye-to-eye with this committee on everything in the past," Marshall said, adding the selectmen hope to work with the YHA to create a new selection process with more accountability so that "any perception of the... good old boy network goes away."

Bardwell said that appointing members to town boards and committees is one of the few powers the selectmen have, and said he takes that job very seriously.

Town Manager Rob Yandow noted he had discussed the board's concern regarding the appointment process with YHA Director Patricia Martine, who stated she would be amenable to a collaborative process for recommendations for appointment between the selectmen and the YHA.

Martine attended the meeting, and echoed those words.

"I am for anything that will move us, as two boards, together," she said.

Selectmen Chairman Mike Estes suggested approving the three candidates to the YHA board and then moving forward with the changes to the way appointments are handled, but Marshall, Bardwell and Gregg said they wanted to wait until the process issues have been addressed.

Martine said the YHA is willing to work with the board, and hopes to meet with selectmen on the issue at their next meeting.

In other business, the board appointed Todd Frederick as an alternate member to Planning Board, heard on update on efforts to address resident concerns in order to move forward with a redesign of the Ridge Road-Old Post Road intersection and began looking ahead to capital planning for the fiscal 2009 budget year.

Yandow, meanwhile, acknowledged the retirement of Public Works Director Bill Bray and welcomed his successor, Dean Lessard, while praising Bray for his work over the years and through such challenges as the Mother's Day and Patriots' Day storms.

Yandow also updated the board on the designation of the Brave Boat Harbor Farm, owned by the Hosmer family on Raynes Neck Road, by Maine Historic Preservation.

The selectmen's next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at the York Public Library.