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Appointments Committee recommends mayoral appointees including new community development director
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Summary
On March 10, 2026, the Gardner City Appointments Committee voted to recommend several of the mayor's nominees — including Melissa McDonald as building commissioner and Jason Stevens as director of community development and planning — to the full council for confirmation; multiple police and historical-commission appointments were also recommended.
The Gardner City Appointments Committee on March 10, 2026, voted to recommend the confirmation of multiple mayoral appointees to the full City Council, including Melissa McDonald as building commissioner and Jason Stevens as director of community development and planning.
The recommendations came during a meeting chairing the Appointments Committee and followed motions to forward the nominations to the full council. Committee members moved and seconded the measures to recommend confirmation; the committee approved each recommendation by voice vote. The committee did not record individual vote tallies in the minutes and the approvals were concluded by vocal assent (“aye”).
Key appointments recommended to the full council included: Melissa McDonald for building commissioner (term expiring 01/13/2027; Item 11771) and Jason Stevens for director of community development and planning (term expiring 01/13/2029; Item 11770). The committee also grouped four police-related appointments for recommendation: Item 11755 (J. Black — police officer, permanent), Item 11787 (Michael King — police officer, permanent), Item 11788 (Ryan Coates — sergeant, permanent), and Item 11789 (Derek White — police officer appointment). A separate motion recommended three historical commission appointments — Linda Rice (Item 11757), Marshall White (Item 11758) and Otavio I. Connan (Item 11759) — each listed with terms expiring 12/11/2028.
Committee procedure during the meeting: motions were made on the floor and identified in the transcript as moved and seconded by councilors named during the discussion (for example, motions in some cases were identified as made by Councilor Kaczynski and seconded by Councilor Hagelin). The committee chair and clerk noted confirmations previously completed (David Orwig had taken the oath after a prior confirmation) and identified follow-up actions where needed (the committee is still awaiting a response from Greg Dumas of the conservation commission to schedule his appearance).
Next steps: The committee forwarded the recommended confirmations to the full Gardner City Council for consideration. The transcript shows approvals were made by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the committee minutes provided.
