Editor’s note: In this new series we will visit the various departments, boards and committees that make the town function, offering thumbnail sketches of their duties and responsibilities. This week we look at the Board of Selectmen.
The Board of Selectmen is composed of three elected members, with the first selectman as the chief town administrator and two additional board members with whom he meets at least monthly. The political composition of the board requires minority representation so no one party can fill all the seats.
The first selectman and his or her board oversee the operation of the general government, ranging from the maintenance of the town’s cemeteries to negotiating issues such as the recovery from a major gas spill.
“The scope seems to be anything that doesn’t fall into any other department,” said the town’s first selectman, Henry Tirrell. “It can be pretty wild.”
For example, the selectmen’s office handles building permit applications, issues household hazardous waste tickets and a variety of permits and handles the town energy assistance program.
As chief administrator, the first selectman develops the municipal portion of the budget for each fiscal year, amassing departmental budget requests in the first three months of the year, vetting them with his full board, and presenting a spending plan to the Board of Finance. After discussion and any revision, the budget goes to a public hearing and town meeting vote.
Because it falls to the selectmen to oversee municipal buildings, local roads and bridges, vehicles, equipment and the like, a first selectman also has a visionary role. Looking ahead, Tirrell would like to institute a capital plan to prepare for major purchases. This would incrementally build funding for big-ticket items, probably over a five-year span, and smooth out fluctuations in taxation.