By Theresa Knapp

On May 13, Holliston held its Annual Town Meeting which lasted four and one-half hours. 

The article that garnered the most feedback was Article 26 which sought to propose a legislative act to create a Select Board-Town Manager form of government, with the intent of “streamlining government.”

In a presentation to the meeting, Holliston Select Board Chair John Cronin explained that the change from the current title of “Town Administrator” to “Town Manager,” (a) would not cause any change to the make-up, appointment process, or authority of existing boards, committees, or commissions, with the exception of the Select Board; and (b) would confirm the practice that has been in place for the hiring of certain board/committee staff wherein the Town Manager will consult with elected board/committee staff. 

As is the custom, once Town Moderator William Mayer read the article, he asked the Finance Committee for a recommendation. Dr. Ken Szajda, chair of the Finance Committee, said his board voted 5-2 to recommend “indefinite postponement” since they had just received the article in March and they believed they had previous and additional questions on the language. 

Szajda said he felt like “this is a rush job and even if we support having a Town Manager, this is not something to be done in eight weeks.” He said his board has additional questions, and other town boards do as well. He expressed concerns that the article was being changed right up to the day of the meeting at which voters were handed a revised article on their way into the auditorium. 

The discussion continued with some Town Meeting members in favor of voting on the original article to make the change to Town Manager, and other members who were not ready to vote that night and needed more input from other town boards.

Assessor Mary Greendale, a longtime resident, was opposed to postponing the article. She said “Holliston has often been reluctant” to changes like this, adding, “It was 30 years ago at this very meeting when we passed the [current] Town Administrator Act, and at that time we wanted to do what is being proposed [Town Manager] tonight.” She cautioned that “‘indefinite postponement’ is Town Meeting language for ‘kicking the can down the road’” and shared her experience working with current Town Administrator Travis Ahern. 

INSET: “It was 30 years ago at this very meeting when we passed the [current] Town Administrator Act.”

-Mary Greendale, assessor and longtime resident 

Finance Committee member Michelle Zeamer said she had requested changes to the Act that were not made, and added there were “substantive changes” in the language that had not yet been discussed. 

“If we postponed it, we can come up with a document that serves the purpose of streamlining government, taking away the day-to-day operations from the Select Board that they have to deal with once a week, which is what I am 100% for; and I repeatedly said at every meeting that we discussed this, I want a document that I could say in front of Town Meeting ‘This is a wonderful document’ and I can’t say that today.” 

After more than an hour, a motion was made to move the question to indefinitely postpone the article. The first hand-count was 127 in favor and 121 opposed. A recount was requested and the final vote was 136 in favor, and 121 opposed. 

The proposed legislative act to create a Select Board-Town Manager form of government was postponed indefinitely. 

To watch the full meeting, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QGdGwT-uhw.