Every year in June Southborough selectmen take a look at the committees in town and make membership decisions. With a number of key vacancies and many terms expiring next month, selectmen are casting a wide net for volunteers.
“It’s citizens that run this town,” Selectman Bill Boland said recently
Not to discount the hard-working folks on the municipal payroll, but he’s right. According to a list on the town website, Southborough has more than 40 committees — both elected and appointed — that make decisions on everything from town scholarships to open space preservation to arts, culture, and recreation.
“We as selectmen don’t want to make all the decisions,” Selectman John Rooney said. “We rely on committees.”
For many of us, the idea of volunteering for a town committee is daunting for any number of reasons, but Rooney said there’s much to be gained by serving the town.
“I understand the time constraints, we all have them, but this is an opportunity to make a difference,” he said. “You also get to meet a lot of fabulous people you wouldn’t get to meet otherwise. There are a lot of great people, dedicated people, working in this town.”
Our newest selectman Dan Kolenda said he started volunteering for committees years ago because he wanted to learn more about how the town works. “Once you start, it gets in your system,” he said. “Some committees don’t take a lot of time.”
“If we like the town we live in and want to make it better, we have the opportunity to do so,” Kolenda said.
You can see a list of committee vacancies on the town website, but Boland encourages residents to put their name forward for any committee they’re interested in even if no vacancies are listed. You can see a complete list of committees here.
Don’t know what a particular committee does? Shout it out in the comments.
It would be helpful to know briefly what a committee does, the expected time commitments, desirable skills, and perhaps key dates when deliverables are due. The most important would be the first two.
A very good and usually thorough description of what a committee does can be found in the Annual Town Report on the town’s website: southboroughtown.com. Every year (the latest report is for calendar 2010) every committee and official has to turn in an annual report of their actions and accomplishments for the year. The website also shows the membership on committees. Especially when there’s a vacancy, I’m guessing the chairman or any member would be happy to talk with you about the requirements, time commitment, etc. They’re anxious to have a full complement. You could contact them the old-fashioned way–via the phone book or by a website if their committee has one.
P.S. Another good reason to read the blog AND newspapers–over time you’ll gather a lot of information.