Town Government
Boards & Commissions
What Boards & Commissions Are
Beyond the Select Board and the School Committee, Holliston lists more than thirty standing boards, commissions and committees on its own Committees index, each with its own charge, agendas and minutes. They approve new development, hear zoning appeals, protect the town’s wetlands and open space, run the Community Preservation money, manage a town farm, and guide services for residents. They are the rooms where an ordinary resident can have the most direct hand in a decision.
Holliston fills a lot of these seats by ballot rather than by appointment. Eleven bodies are elected outright: the Moderator, the Town Clerk, the Select Board and Highway Surveyors, the Board of Assessors, the Finance Committee, the Board of Health, the Housing Authority, the Library Trustees, the Park Commission, the Planning Board and the School Committee. Two of those are worth pausing on. Holliston elects its Town Clerk, and Chapter 405 left that alone when it moved the department heads to the Town Manager. And Holliston elects its seven member Finance Committee, so the people who advise Town Meeting on every dollar answer to the voters directly and are named on the same ballot as everyone else.
Key Boards & Commissions
- Finance Committee reviews the budget and advises Town Meeting on spending, and by the act it sits down with the Town Manager before December 31 each year to build the revenue model the next budget rests on. Seven members, elected, chaired by Kenneth S. Szajda.
- Planning Board reviews subdivisions, site plans, and major development. Five members, elected to five year terms, chaired by Barbara D. Peatie, with one associate member appointed by the board.
- Zoning Board of Appeals hears variances and special permits. Appointed, chaired by Jay R. Peabody.
- Conservation Commission protects Holliston’s wetlands, rivers, and open space. Seven members, appointed, chaired by Ann Marie Pilch.
- Board of Health oversees inspections, septic rules, and public health. Three members, elected to three year terms, chaired by John D. Leary.
- Community Preservation Committee recommends how the town spends its Community Preservation Act money on open space, historic preservation, recreation and affordable housing. The money comes from a 1.5 percent property tax surcharge plus state matching funds, and Town Meeting votes each project.
- Trails Committee looks after the rail trail and the town’s other trails. Chaired by Robert Weidknecht, who led the 2014 application that got the 8-Arch Bridge named an Endangered Historic Resource and made its restoration fundable.
- Historical Commission identifies and protects the town’s historic buildings, structures, records and documents. Chaired by Sara Zarrelli.
- Community Farm Advisory Committee is a seven member group the Select Board formed to manage the town-owned Holliston Community Farm at 34 Rogers Road, the former Serocki Farm.
- Open Space Committee was formed in 1999 to promote permanent preservation of open space, and works with landowners on acquisitions and conservation restrictions that Town Meeting then votes.
- Housing Authority runs the town’s public housing. Five members elected to five year terms, with one state appointee and one resident appointee, chaired by Anthony J. Damigella.
- Park Commission runs the town’s parks and recreation programs. Five members, elected, chaired by Brian McDonald.
- Council on Aging advocates for older residents and runs the programs at The Center on Goulding Street. Appointed, chaired by Lynne Bajdek, and it carries associate member seats as well as full ones.
- Economic Development Committee works to bring planned commercial and industrial growth to town and to broaden the tax base. Seven members, appointed, chaired by John Drohan.
For the full roster, current members, vacancies, and schedules, see the town’s own Committees index.
How to Serve
- Find an opening on the town’s Committees index, which lists every body with its own page.
- Submit a letter of interest to the Town Manager’s Office. That is the real route: when a School Committee seat opened in 2026 the Town Manager posted a public request for letters of interest with a stated deadline, and residents who wrote in were interviewed in an open joint meeting.
- Speak for yourself if you are asked. Candidates for that seat each gave a short account of their qualifications and answered questions from both boards, in public.
- Serve: attend the public meetings and help make decisions for your town.
Some seats are filled by a vote you can watch rather than by appointment. When a School Committee seat falls vacant in Holliston, the three Select Board members and the sitting School Committee members meet together and fill it by a joint roll call vote, and the appointee serves until the next annual town election. That happened twice in June 2026.
Serving on a board is one of the most direct ways to shape Holliston.