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Select Board narrows appointment process, agrees to administratively reappoint willing incumbents while pausing new appointments
Summary
After a lengthy discussion with town counsel about open‑meeting requirements and interview options, the board decided to allow reappointments of current committee members (with chair and member agreement) to proceed via the consent agenda while pausing new external appointments pending a revised appointment policy.
The Select Board debated revisions to its appointments policy and how to handle interviews, open‑meeting constraints, and consent‑agenda practice before voting to continue reappointments administratively while pausing new appointments.
Chris Heap, town counsel (speaker 9), explained options for conducting interviews and the interplay with the Open Meeting Law, including when vice‑chair interviews, joint interviews with committee chairs, or executive-session preliminary screening would trigger additional posting or procedural obligations. Board members expressed differing views about public interviews, nominee privacy and how public discussion of candidate finalists should be handled.
After extended discussion the board voted to allow reappointments to proceed on the consent agenda for individuals who wish to continue and whose committee chairs endorse them, while pausing new appointments until the board receives a redline revision of the appointments policy. The motion was made and carried; staff will put reappointments on the consent list for the July meeting and town counsel will draft a revised policy for the board’s review.
Next steps: Chris Heap will draft redline revisions reflecting tonight’s discussion; staff will administratively prepare reappointment items for the July consent agenda and continue to accept applications for future advertised vacancies while the policy is updated.
