Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Appointments Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Select Board approves commission appointments, delays new appointment policy; road committee reappointment planned
Summary
The board approved a slate of board, commission and committee appointments (including planning board edits) and agreed to appoint a road committee at a future meeting. The board deferred action on a new appointments policy and debated whether to maintain an open application 'queue' or solicit only when vacancies occur.
At its Aug. 19 meeting the Wayne Select Board approved a set of board, commission and committee appointments for the coming year with a single correction to a planning board appointment term. The board voted 4‑0 to accept the list after confirming that Jeanie (spelled in packet as Genie) Burnett would fill the remainder of Tom Moran’s planning board term, expiring in June 2027.
The board discussed the road committee. Staff said a group met to help on a recent RFP and that several names could be considered; the board agreed to place the road committee appointments on the agenda for the next meeting and to solicit volunteers. Select Board members also noted vacancies on other committees and directed staff to check with named appointees (for example, to confirm Laura Briggs’ willingness to serve on the board of appeals).
On a separate but related item the board debated a proposed town‑wide appointment policy drafted to formalize how volunteers are solicited, reviewed and appointed. Board members expressed differing views: some favored a tiered or categorized approach (with the conservation commission possibly treated as its own category because of its heavy volunteer role), while others opposed keeping a long open application queue when positions are not yet open and preferred soliciting applicants when vacancies occur. The board voted to table the appointment policy until the second meeting in September to allow additional review and drafting.
Board members asked staff to advertise upcoming openings for the road committee and to circulate an at‑a‑glance mapping of committees to the proposed policy language before the next discussion. Several select board members emphasized that conservation commission volunteers should be welcome and that the town should support boards that want more associate members.
