Reappointments Out in the Open

For the first time in many years, the Select Board will be reappointing town officials – everything from Town Administrator to Field Driver -- out in the open.

Town Administrative Offices Liaison Norm Russell said on Wednesday night that Town Administrator Maryellen Cranston had received several e-mails from appointees, asking that they not have to request reappointment. Russell felt it was inappropriate to simply automatically reappoint officials year after year. “For all I know they could have just moved away.”

Board Chair Dave DeHerdt said that, for years, appointments were done en masse by slate, usually at the last minute, but that it was now time to “bring things back out into the light.”

“People didn’t even know we had a Registrar of Voters until we started digging,” DeHerdt said.

Often the officials in question weren’t aware they’d been reappointed. Board Member Doug Field said that he had been appointed as Fire Chief 22 years ago on a six-month probation. “Until this day, I didn’t know I was off of it.”

DeHerdt pointed out that being a Select Board member requires a lot of work, and often it was considered easier to simply vote the slate without considering the appointments individually. But he felt that the least the Board could do is to ask appointees to affirm that they actually want the job.

“This is the first year we’ve had a list of reappointments before the day of reappointment,” DeHerdt said.

The reappointments need to be made before the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.

David King