Town Leadership
The Select Board’s Office
Three Executives, All of Them Elected
The Select Board as Executive
When a road goes unplowed in Heath, the response does not cross an administrator’s desk, because the town does not employ one. The three elected members of the Select Board, Robyn Provost, Elissa Viarengo, and Will Emmet, run the town themselves. The town’s own page states it plainly: the Select Board is the chief executive body of Heath and has overall responsibility for the general operations of the town. The Town Bylaws and the General Laws of Massachusetts give the board broad authority. It acts as the primary policy-making body, appoints most town employees and the members of the town’s multiple-member boards, committees, and commissions except where the bylaws or the finance and taxation laws provide otherwise, recommends the budget to the Annual Town Meeting, and serves as the town’s licensing authority. Most Massachusetts towns of this shape hire a professional Town Administrator to carry the daily machinery. Heath keeps that machinery in the hands of the people it elects, with a part-time Town Coordinator to handle the office work under the board’s direction. That changes what an election here means: when you vote for a Select Board member, you are not choosing someone to supervise a manager, you are choosing a working executive. The people who answer for the plowing schedule and the next year’s budget sit at a public table at the Jacobs Road Municipal Center on Tuesday afternoons, and the seat across from them is open to any resident who walks in.
| Role | Select Board, the town’s chief executive body and licensing authority |
|---|---|
| Selection | Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms |
| Office | 18 Jacobs Road, Heath, MA 01346 |
| Phone | 413-337-4934 Ext. 000 |
| Website | townofheath.org |
What the Select Board’s Office Does
- Sets policy. The board acts as the town’s primary policy-making body across the range of issues that affect Heath’s services and development.
- Builds the warrant. The board decides what reaches Town Meeting, signing the warrant for every Annual and Special Town Meeting.
- Makes appointments. The board appoints most town employees and the members of the town’s boards, committees, and commissions, except where the bylaws or the finance laws provide otherwise.
- Recommends the budget. The board recommends the annual budget to Town Meeting alongside the Finance Committee’s review, and Town Meeting holds the final vote.
- Answers to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Heath that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Office Staff
- The Town Coordinator: Mia Francesconi staffs the Select Board’s office, which is open Monday through Thursday, 9:00 to 3:00, and by appointment. The Coordinator handles the town’s daily paperwork under the board’s direction rather than as an appointed administrator.
- Elected offices carry much of the work. Heath voters fill a long ballot of working offices, among them the Moderator, Town Clerk, Treasurer, Tax Collector, Assessors, Board of Health, Planning Board, Cemetery Commission, Library Trustees, and the Municipal Light Board, so the town’s executive work is a web of elected seats, not one org chart.
- Boards and commissions, permanent and ad hoc, are appointed by the Select Board and decide questions like zoning, conservation, and historic preservation.
Contact & Engage
- Town offices: 18 Jacobs Road, with public office hours Monday through Thursday, 9:00 to 3:00.
- Select Board’s office: 413-337-4934 Ext. 000, bos@townofheath.org.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken signs, and plowing go to the Highway Department, 413-337-4462.
- Show up: the board meets on Tuesday afternoons at the Jacobs Road Municipal Center, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.