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Selectboard praises fire‑station committee; seeks volunteers for governance review
Summary
Selectboard members commended the volunteer fire station building committee for delivering a site and construction start, and proposed forming a new committee to review town governance options, including town meeting, a charter council, or changing board size.
Selectboard members praised the volunteer Fire Station Building Committee for securing a site and starting construction and asked for volunteers for a new committee to study town governance options, including whether to retain town meeting, adopt a charter with a council, or change the size of the selectboard.
Why it matters: the fire‑station committee’s work produced a location and early construction activity; the board wants a similarly thorough review to consider possible changes to how Swansea is governed and whether any change should be placed on a future ballot.
Selectboard member (speaking at length during the meeting) called the period “a very exciting time for us as a town,” saying the fire‑station committee’s results were “phenomenal” and praising volunteers who supported the effort. The member said construction work had already begun at the selected location and thanked resident volunteers by name.
On governance, the same Selectboard member proposed forming a new committee to compare Swansea’s current governance model with other municipalities and to return recommendations to the board toward the end of the year. Options for study listed by the board included returning to traditional town meeting, adopting a charter with a council form of government, or changing the selectboard’s size (three or five members). The member said the proposed committee could recommend placing any resulting change on a ballot but would be free to recommend no change.
The board asked residents to indicate interest; one Selectboard member named Jay Moore as an example of a volunteer who had been active in the fire‑station effort and praised his contributions. The record in the provided transcript shows no formal vote to create the governance review committee during the meeting; the board discussed next steps and recruitment.
What comes next: the board said it would consider committee membership and bring further details to future meetings; no binding timeline was recorded in the provided transcript.
