Finance Committee elects Donald Brichta chair, names vice chairs and committee liaisons

Donald Brichta was elected chair of the Town of Sharon Finance Committee on May 18, winning a 9-0 vote after a nomination by Anja Bernier and a second by Ira Miller. The Committee also voted unanimously to name Anja Bernier and Ira Miller as vice chairs and postponed a separate vote on the Clerk position to the next meeting.

Brichta, who previously served on the Committee, opened the discussion on leadership roles and emphasized succession planning and distributing responsibilities to reduce the workload on the chair. "We need leadership continuity and to develop future leaders," he said during the reorganization discussion.

The Committee approved a slate of committee liaisons and alternates. By unanimous vote the Committee appointed Brichta and Ira Miller as the Finance representatives to the Priorities Committee, with Alex Derevianko named as an alternate. The Capital Outlay Committee appointments named Anja Bernier and Phillip King as representatives with Michael Jolin as alternate. Brichta was appointed as the Finance Committee representative to the town Nominating Committee, and Sharon Duret was appointed to serve on the Audit Committee.

Members agreed to postpone selecting a Standing Building Committee representative and the Clerk vote until the next meeting because the incumbent, Chris Pimentel, was not present.

All recorded motions related to leadership and liaison assignments passed unanimously. The Committee discussed delegating warrant review work in the future—potentially to a subcommittee—to reduce the chair's year-round administrative burden and ensure Open Meeting Law compliance when members review materials outside posted meetings.

The chair and members said they will finalize outstanding liaison appointments and the Clerk vote at the June meeting.