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Committee approves May minutes and advances Ashford volunteer recognition program, eyes Family Day booth
Summary
The Ashford committee approved the May 4 minutes, continued drafting an Ashford volunteer recognition program (incorporating state-statutory descriptions where the town website lacks them), set an August 15 deadline for the agriculture feature, and discussed staffing a booth at the town's Family Day; follow-up outreach to boards and the fire chief was assigned.
The Ashford committee convened and approved the minutes from its May 4 meeting before turning to an ongoing effort to create an Ashford volunteer recognition program.
Chair introduced the item, saying the draft “did not get into the June issue” but that the first selectwoman had reviewed the materials, apologized for being out of state and planned to have the board of selectmen review the draft that evening so it could move into the July issue, which coincides with the town’s 250th anniversary. The committee agreed the current draft emphasizes purpose and board descriptions rather than singling out individuals to reduce potential controversy.
A committee member leading research reported pulling descriptive language from state statutes to fill gaps where the town website lacks clear purpose statements for certain boards and commissions and said they had emailed revised text on May 6. Members asked that those draft lists be circulated to current commission chairs for review before publication.
The group reviewed which boards are already covered (board of assessment appeals, commission on aging, agriculture, conservation, EDC, education, finance) and debated whether to include the fire department — which is not technically a town board but receives substantial town funding and has had long-standing volunteer service. The committee agreed to contact the fire chief to request membership lists (the group discussed compiling records going back roughly 50 years, to 1976) and to invite input from founding or long-serving volunteers (members named Art, Danny/Dan Zichek and Peter Rimkiss as possible contacts).
Chair set a deadline of August 15 for content related to the agriculture feature and asked members to confirm whether the committee will staff a booth at Family Day in June and what that booth’s purpose should be (volunteer recruitment, program promotion, or both). The committee asked staff (Katherine) to confirm event logistics and whether each board will have a presence.
Actions and next steps included circulating revised lists to commission contacts, the committee member’s further statutory research, outreach to the fire chief for historic rosters, and confirming Family Day booth arrangements. The meeting concluded after a brief schedule and logistics discussion.
Votes at a glance • Motion: Approve minutes from May 4 — mover: Committee member (mover); second: Committee member (seconder); voice vote recorded as in favor (‘I’ repeated three times); outcome: approved. • Motion: Adjourn — mover: Committee member (mover); second: Committee member (seconder); outcome: approved.
The committee plans to circulate draft text for commission profiles to relevant chairs and to confirm event logistics for Family Day before its next meeting.
