Town Government
Ashfield Select Board
About the Board
Three people are the chief elected authority for the Town of Ashfield, and the town elects them one at a time. Each member serves a three-year term, and exactly one seat goes on the ballot every year, so the board is never replaced all at once and there is always someone in the room who sat through last year’s budget. In a town of 1,695 people, one annual seat is a genuinely reachable thing to run for.
- Controls the warrant. The Board prepares the Town Meeting warrant, which is the agenda, and that decides what business reaches the floor for a vote.
- Appoints. It makes appointments to town boards and offices, and it employs the professional administrative staff and town counsel.
- Signs the checks. It signs the warrants for the payment of town bills.
- Licenses and permits. It has the authority to grant them.
- Sets direction. It sets policy and strategic direction, develops the annual town budget, coordinates the activities of other boards, and hears appeals and resolves problems that have not been settled at lower levels.
It also works with the Town Administrator, who oversees the daily operation of the town under the Board’s direction. And it wears a second hat: the Municipal Light Plant board advises the Select Board on the town’s Fiber to the Home network, the one Ashfield voted to build for itself in 2015.
Board Members
All three members are elected town-wide, so every Ashfield voter helps choose each of them. The term years below are the town’s own, and they show the staggering at work: one seat expires each year.
Todd Olanyk
Steven Gougeon
Tom Carter
The town routes contact to board members through Town Hall at 413-628-4441. To put something on the Board’s agenda, the town asks you to contact the Town Administrator at townadmin@ashfield.org or 413-628-4441 ext. 7 by 3:00 on the Wednesday before the Board meets. The current roster is posted at ashfield.org.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: every other Monday at 7:00 PM at Ashfield Town Hall, 412 Main Street, except for holidays, plus meetings as needed. Budget meetings typically fall on the alternating Mondays from January through April.
- Agendas & minutes: posted as state law requires on the posting board and in the online town calendar, usually on the Thursday afternoon before a Monday meeting, and archived in the Board’s Minutes and Agenda folder at ashfield.org.
- Public comment: residents may address the board. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Bring your own article. Ashfield publishes a Citizen Petition form for proposing a warrant article, which is how a resident puts a question directly to Town Meeting.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and the bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.