Town Meeting votes to make Grafton’s Town Clerk an appointed job

Grafton Town Meeting voted to change the Town Clerk position from elected to appointed and shot down an attempt to move future town meetings from Monday evenings to Saturday mornings.

“I think this is ridiculous,” resident Richard Whitney said of the proposed clerk change, which Town Meeting voted down in 2018. Whitney recalled the town’s long history of electing town clerks.

“This isn’t about what has been done in the past… this is about the future of this position,” Select Board member Mathew Often said.

But the Town Clerk’s office has become more complex as the years rolled by, requiring certifications and knowledge of multiple laws. It is also the only elected office inside the Municipal Center, but the post went uncontested until 2019, when current Town Clerk Kandy Lavallee was re-elected over challenger Jennifer Paluzzi (Don’t worry about Paluzzi. She founded Grafton Common and is now writing this story).

Lavallee will be seeking re-election in May 2022 — and the status of her job remains in limbo. Because this article requires a town charter change, voters will have to approve the change again on the same ballot.

Town Meeting members were also vocal about a proposed charter change that would move Town Meeting to Saturday in the spring and the fall. Select Board member Ray Mead, who served as town moderator for two decades, said it was a frequent request from young families who found it difficult to get babysitters on a school night. Resident Lydia Bogar added that the request this round was the result of a petition started at the Grafton Senior Center, since many seniors avoid driving at night and do not have alternate transportation.

Spring and fall Town Meetings were both held on Saturdays in 2020, and again earlier this spring , all outdoors on the Grafton High School football field due to the need for social distancing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But several residents pointed out that Saturday is the sabbath day in Judaism, which would cause a hardship to people who worship.

Anne Marie Foley pointed out that many families spent Saturdays shuttling children to various sports games. “It will be an unfortunate change that will leave more people out of it.”

The article failed at the vote.

Something went wrong!

Help support Grafton’s only independent source of news with a donation!