ORANGE — The Selectboard reorganized itself and doled out liaison assignments at Wednesday’s video conference meeting, the first since the governing body acquired three new members in Monday’s town election.
Ryan Mailloux retained his chairmanship in a unanimous vote, and the same was true for re-elected Jane Peirce and her role as vice chair. Thomas Smith, who was re-elected to the board after resigning in January due to his sister’s death, was appointed clerk. Patricia Lussier and Alexandre Schwanz are the other new members.
Once there was a second on the motion to assign the leadership roles, Mailloux opened up the topic for discussion. Schwanz said he had “no issues with Ryan being chair,” but looked to nominate Lussier, citing her experience as director of volunteer services at Athol Hospital and manager of a skilled nursing facility. Lussier said she thought it would be a good idea to have one of the two seasoned members serve as chair and a newer member serve as vice chair to ensure board leadership would consist of both experience and a new voice.
Peirce responded by suggesting the experienced board members retain their leadership titles, with the possibility of a mid-term switch.
“I’m primarily interested in stability,” she said. “We have challenges ahead of us that are almost overwhelming, and I just want to make sure whatever we do prepares us to be ready to deal with the situations that arise.”
Smith chimed in to support Peirce’s suggestion, saying her experience would be beneficial in the vice chair position, and the assignments can be revisited at a later date.
“We can’t afford to have too many bumps in the road,” Smith said.
When liaison positions were being assigned, Mailloux took general government and collective bargaining. He explained liaisons act as a point of contact for different sectors of the municipality.
“We can’t make any decisions for them, but we can guide them and then we can take their challenges or their celebrations and bring it back to the full board and share them with (Orange Town Administrator) Gabe (Voelker) as well, and see what we can do to either help them or share in the accomplishments that they’ve got,” he said.
Smith was assigned to be the liaison to public safety — which includes the police and fire departments, building inspector, Board of Health, animal control and emergency management — and social services, which includes the libraries. He will also be the liaison to the Armory Commission.
Peirce requested to remain the liaison to the Highway Department “because we have so many projects going on and I have the institutional memory in my head at this point.” Mailloux said that made sense and mentioned Peirce has a great working relationship with Highway Superintendent Colin Killay. Peirce was also made the liaison to the Airport Commission.
Schwanz was assigned the Elementary School Committee, where he sits as a member, and the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, while Lussier got the Capital Improvement and Finance committees.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.