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12-26-2022 11:45pm
Momentum to Change Westwood’s Town Treasurer and Collector from Elected to Appointed Positions
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Until it meets again in January, Westwood’s Select Board is collecting proposed warrant articles to place before resident voters at Town Meeting in May 2023; one of those articles will be the proposal to change the nature of the positions of Westwood’s town treasurer and tax collector from elected to appointed.
Members of the Charter Review Committee had presented the idea to Select Board at the board’s December 19, 2022 meeting as a “priority recommendation.” Charter Review Committee Co-Chair Peter Cahill noted that Westwood has been fortunate in being served by effective and qualified persons in these roles in the past, but that the town is currently relying on luck in having qualified candidates running for, and winning, the offices.
Mr. Cahill noted that the demands of these positions have changed over time, from possibly clerical beginnings to now requiring particular skills and expertise. Westwood is in a group of less than 13 percent of Massachusetts towns which currently have both an elected treasurer and tax collector, according to Mr. Cahill.
Charter Review Committee member Nancy Hyde, who is also a former member of Westwood’s Select Board, added that previous Westwood Charter Review Committees had looked at the elected versus appointed issue in the past. At the time, it was determined that the timing to make a change to these positions wasn’t right, she said. Now, among other reasons, she referenced statewide momentum for making the change, as other towns make the switch from elected to appointed treasurers/tax collectors. Like Mr. Cahill, Ms. Hyde observed that the position of town treasurer requires someone who is capable of sound, fiscal management.
Select Board member Marianne LeBlanc Cummings agreed that the positions of town treasurer and tax collector need a specific professional skill set which should not be left to chance.
Upon a motion by Select Board Clerk Michael Walsh, the board unanimously decided to place the issue in an article before voters. The proposal will be to change Westwood’s town treasurer and tax collector positions from elected to appointed.
It was in October this year that Select Board first appointed Phil Shapiro to serve as interim town treasurer, upon the resignation of elected Town Treasurer James Gavin. Mr. Gavin left his position on September 15, 2022.
In Select Board’s meeting on December 5th, it voted unanimously to extend Mr. Shapiro's interim term an additional year through April 30, 2024. Before the extension, Mr. Shapiro's interim term had been set to expire in April 2023.
