Board & Committee Appointments made by the Moderator

As your elected Town Moderator, I make direct appointments to various standing boards and committees each year - the Advisory Committee, the Personnel Board and the Public Works Planning Board. Note that, for the Advisory Committee and Personnel Board, the Moderator appoints the full slate of members (9 for Advisory and 5 for Personnel). For the Public Works Planning Board, the Moderator makes 3 of the 5 appointments (the Planning Board appoints the other 2 members).

This is a list of the standing bodies that the Moderator appoints. See a list of current members and term expiration dates.

It goes without saying that any authority to appoint a board or committee in our Town does not carry the right of day-to-day oversight. If boards and committees are not allowed to operate independently then there is little point to their existence. That said, I am always open to citizen feedback about the operation of Moderator‑appointed boards and committees and their members. Town government is not always easy, and people are not perfect, but my expectation is that volunteers serve ethically, minimize mistakes, and approach the function with thoughtfulness while always learning and improving.

As Moderator, my approach to new appointments (and re-appointments) is to encourage and seek citizen volunteerism based on a strong willingness and availability to serve our Town, with knowledge or interest in the subject matter, but without a pre‑established agenda or focus on any particular issue. As noted above, the Moderator makes direct appointments and I will do so thoughtfully. Incidentally, I do not believe that citizen volunteers should be subject to a public process of scrutinizing their credentials or past performance (as opposed to elected officials, who should and do receive close scrutiny), as I believe that such a process would discourage many qualified people from coming forward. In a time when Town volunteerism is already a continual challenge, this would be a great disservice to our Town.

I encourage anyone who is interested in serving on any of the Moderator-appointed bodies to contact me at any time via official Town email. In so doing, a public record will exist as to all who express interest. I also encourage any citizen to use that email to suggest others for consideration, or just be in touch with me for any reason at all.

Thank you, and I hope to see you at Town Meeting!