Templeton’s Select Board and its advisory committee on July 30 formed a town-administrator screening committee to review 11 applicants and recommend finalists to the board.

The advisory committee voted 5-0 to appoint April Komet to the screening committee. The Select Board then approved two at-large members, Matt Black and Nicole Roberts, after motions during the special meeting; the board recorded a 4‑yes vote that produced the screening committee.

The committee’s stated membership will include one advisory-committee member (Komet), two department heads who volunteered — Jackie Prime (director of community services) and Police Chief Michael Bennett — and two at-large residents (Black and Roberts). The board discussed replacing the previously planned school-committee seat with an at-large resident seat because the school committee had not returned a nominee in time for the July 30 schedule.

The meeting included a review of the screening committee’s procedures under Massachusetts open-meeting rules. Select Board members and staff told the committee members they must post meeting notices, open meetings in public before going into executive session, take minutes, and follow the executive-session exemption cited in the meeting as “open meeting law, chapter 38, section 8” for candidate screening and confidentiality. The board said it will provide the committee with copies of the open-meeting-law guidance, a sample executive-session motion, a personnel policy, and printed candidate packets for the committee’s first meeting.

Committee logistics and next steps were discussed: staff said they had compiled each applicant’s cover letter, resume and references into individual folders for committee review and will email members to schedule the committee’s first meeting. The board said the screening committee must elect a chair and clerk at its first meeting so it can post and conduct subsequent meetings and record minutes; the board also said committee members must be sworn in and that the clerk’s office will assist with posting once meeting dates are set.

Applicants and volunteers introduced themselves during public comment. Matt Black, owner of the Otter River Hotel (also called the Red Onion), described his business background and said, “I feel strongly our town needs someone not only qualified, but special to lead us into a positive future.” Nicole Roberts, a Templeton resident of 26 years who identified herself as a land-use and planning coordinator for the town of Winchendon and a member of the Templeton Housing Authority, said, “I feel my years of municipal experience will be an asset to your search.”

Board and staff comments emphasized confidentiality for applicants and explained that once the screening committee forwards names to the Select Board, interviews and any employment negotiations will occur in open session or in executive session only as allowed by law. The board reiterated that the committee’s role is to screen and recommend candidates; formal hiring decisions and contract negotiations remain the responsibility of the Select Board.

The board and staff said they will circulate suggested interview questions and a candidate-evaluation checklist to the screening committee but that the committee may adopt, modify or discard those materials. Staff offered to provide a meeting room and, if needed, to open the building for after-hours meetings.

The screening committee formation and appointments close a short special meeting in which board and advisory members expressed appreciation for the number of volunteers and applicants and directed staff to notify committee members and post the committee’s first meeting.

Less critical details: meeting participants noted there were 11 applicants as of the July 30 posting; staff said they had printed each applicant’s materials and would distribute them to committee members. The board asked committee members to propose preferred meeting dates; staff said they would post the first meeting after receiving member availability.