The second floor meeting room in town hall was nearly full at 5:30 Tuesday night – full of people eager to lend their talents and experience to the town’s advisory boards. The commissioners will face a daunting task in narrowing down their choices of appointments.
The speakers were seeking seats on the Board of Adjustment, the Design Review Board, the Planning Board, and two new boards which will need nine members each, the Cultural Resources Advisory Board and the Technology Advisory Board.
It took almost two hours to hear them all offer their time and talents. And with very few exceptions, these are all men and women who moved into town very recently. One applicant for the Technology Advisory Board has been here only three months.
The youngest applicant for the Technology Board was Haley Tucker, an eleventh-grade student at the Franklin Academy High School, who said she could offer a new perspective on the technological community. She has studied web and graphic design, has presented at a student technology conference and told the commissioners her fellow technology students have problems in finding community service opportunities in the technology field.
Tucker was one of 17 people applying for the new Technology Advisory Board, though not all of the 17 were present to speak. Because it is a new board, nine members will be appointed with three serving one year, three serving two years and three serving three years to establish the staggered terms.
The second new board, Cultural Resources Advisory Board, also drew a large response, 1 1 people who spoke and perhaps more who were unable to attend.
And then there was the Planning Board where three seats are open – those held currently by Al Merritt, who has served 33 years, Ed Gary and Dehaven Fields. Both Gary and Fields are applying for reappointment, Gary for a second term and Fields for his first term since he replaced Ward Marotti for a year after Marotti move away. There are at least 10 other contenders for the three seats, many of them with wide experience and training in planning.
The commissioners will vote by secret ballot for the members of the advisory boards during their Dec. 16 meeting.
Most of the current advisory boards interview the applicants for open seats and recommend their choices to the commissioners. Those boards which follow that procedure are the Cemetery Board, the Greenways Board, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Human Relations Council, the Public Art Commission, the Recreation Board, the Senior Center Board, and the Urban Forestry Board. The Youth in Government Board is appointed by the commissioners in the summer.
