Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Veronique Blanchard
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most day-to-day control over the response in Conway is appointed, not elected. Veronique Blanchard is the Town Administrator, hired by the three elected members of the Select Board to run the town, and she works under a contract they can decline to renew. In a town this size that one job is really several at once: the charter and her appointment make her the chief administrative officer, and she also serves as the town’s chief financial officer, chief procurement officer, human resources director, and information technology director. What that means in practice is that most of the paperwork a resident touches, from a purchase order to a hiring decision to the annual budget, passes across her desk.
Her core work is the budget. Each year she builds it department by department, weighs what the town can afford against what it needs, and proposes it. From there it goes to the Select Board, which reviews it and decides what reaches the Town Meeting warrant, and then to Town Meeting, where the voters in the room have the last word and can cut a line the other two agreed on. She oversees the appointed department heads who carry out that budget once it passes, and she prepares the warrants that tell Town Meeting what it will be asked to decide. Because Conway hands the daily machinery to an appointed administrator rather than to a mayor, the plan to fix most problems reaches her office first, then the board, then the floor of Town Meeting. Knowing that path is knowing where to push.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Offices, 32 Main Street, Conway, MA 01341 |
| Phone | 413-369-4235 ext. 3 |
| Website | conwayma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, highway, health, and the rest answer to the Town Administrator, who oversees the appointed department heads.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Town Administrator serves under contract to the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Conway that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting food, and report through the Town Administrator.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can replace the Town Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and public health.
Contact & Engage
- Town offices: 32 Main Street, PO Box 240, Conway, MA 01341.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 413-369-4235 ext. 3, townadmin@conwayma.gov.
- Report a problem: road and drainage problems go to the Highway Department at 413-369-4696.
- Show up: the Select Board meets every other Monday at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.