Town Moderator Paul Cimino asked me to share with readers his explanation on how he is handling appointments he is responsible for making to Town boards and committees.*
His message encourages residents to reach out by email if they are interested in serving, recommending others, or for other matters. Below is his full message:
My name is Paul Cimino, and as your elected Town Moderator I make direct appointments to various standing boards and committees each year – the Advisory Committee, the Personnel Board and the Public Works Planning Board. Note that, for the Advisory Committee and Personnel Board, the Moderator appoints the full slate of members (9 for Advisory and 5 for Personnel). For the Public Works Planning Board, the Moderator makes 3 of the 5 appointments (the Planning Board appoints the other 2 members).
Below is a list of the current members of each standing body that the Moderator appoints, along with the year their term expires (on June 30).
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Judith K. Budz (2017)
Francis Mainville (2017)
John M. Wood (2017)
Doriann M. Jasinski (2018)
Karen Muggeridge (2018)
Sam R. Stivers (2018)
Kathryn M. Cook (2019)
Janet Maney (2019)
Adrian Peters (2019)PERSONNEL BOARD
Joseph C. Laning (2017)
Elizabeth Henry-Veeneman (2017)
David L. Flynn (2018)
Kim L. Deans (2019)
Russell B. Milholland (2019)PUBLIC WORKS PLANNING
Mark S. Bertonazzi (2017)
Vacancy (2018)
James A. Harding (2019)It goes without saying that any authority to appoint a board or committee in our Town does not carry the right of day-to-day oversight. If boards and committees are not allowed to operate independently then there is little point to their existence. That said, I am always open to citizen feedback about the operation of Moderator‑appointed boards and committees and their members. Town government is not always easy, and people are not perfect, but my expectation is that volunteers serve ethically, minimize mistakes, and approach the function with thoughtfulness while always learning and improving.
As Moderator, my approach to new appointments (and re-appointments) is to encourage and seek citizen volunteerism based on a strong willingness and availability to serve our Town, with knowledge or interest in the subject matter, but without a pre‑established agenda or focus on any particular issue. As noted above, the Moderator makes direct appointments and I will do so thoughtfully. Incidentally, I do not believe that citizen volunteers should be subject to a public process of scrutinizing their credentials or past performance (as opposed to elected officials, who should and do receive close scrutiny), as I believe that such a process would discourage many qualified people from coming forward. In a time when Town volunteerism is already a continual challenge, this would be a great disservice to our Town.
I encourage anyone who is interested in serving on any of the Moderator-appointed bodies to contact me at any time via official Town email (moderator@southboroughma.com). In so doing, a public record will exist as to all who express interest. I also encourage any citizen to use that email to suggest others for consideration, or just be in touch with me for any reason at all.
Thank you, and I hope to see you at Town Meeting!
If you are interested in more information on one of the boards mentioned above, click here.
Keep in mind there are other committees in Town appointed by other authorities, many with vacancies. For recent posts on vacancies that need to be filled by selectmen, click here and here.
*The message was also posted for the community on the Town website.
No one should be hesitant to have their past experiences or background checked, whatever capacity they serve the town. To ignore this important step would be foolhardy. This town has made enough mistakes.
I am troubled by the Moderator’s inability to fill the vacant position on the Personnel Board. He has received an application from a very well qualified resident. Why the delay? The Personnel Board has had difficulty meeting due to a lack of a quorum. Would the Moderator care to explain himself?
And there are 2 unfilled positions on the Advisory board!
I had hoped that Mr. Cimino would be an improvement from the prior Moderator but it doesn’t look that way so far.