Town Leadership
The Wellesley Executive Director’s Office
The Executive Director of General Government Services
Meghan C. Jop
The person who runs Town Hall day to day holds a title you will not find in most civics textbooks: Executive Director of General Government Services. The office a town manager fills in most Massachusetts towns exists here under the town’s own name for it. Wellesley’s bylaws created the position, and since March 2019 it has belonged to Meghan C. Jop, who spent more than sixteen years on the town’s staff before stepping into the top job. The bylaw that defines her role says the Executive Director “shall act for and with the authority of the Select Board,” and that one sentence explains most of what she does.
The Select Board’s five elected members appoint the Executive Director to a three year term, and the job answers to them, not to the voters directly. In practice that authority reaches nearly every counter at Town Hall. The Executive Director exercises general supervision over the town departments for which the Select Board is the appointing authority, and appoints the principal staff, including the Assistant Executive Director, subject to the board’s approval. She is also the town’s Chief Procurement Officer, which means the contracts for paving, plowing, and building repairs cross her desk, and by bylaw she approves every bill on the weekly warrant before the Treasurer pays a dollar of it.
The budget shows how the levers connect. The Executive Director builds the annual budget, department by department, and proposes it. The Select Board reviews it and decides what goes on the warrant. Then Town Meeting’s 240 elected members vote it line by line, and they can cut a line the other two rooms agreed on. So when a resident wants something fixed or funded, the plan usually crosses the Executive Director’s desk first, then goes to the board, then to Town Meeting. The bylaws even require her office to run a system for answering citizen inquiries, which means a question from you has an official door it must go through. That door is open whether or not you can vote yet.
| Role | Executive Director of General Government Services |
|---|---|
| In office | Since March 2019 |
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board to a three year term, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 |
| Phone | 781-431-1019 ext. 2200 |
| Website | wellesleyma.gov |
What the Executive Director Does
- Runs the day to day. The Executive Director supervises the town departments for which the Select Board is the appointing authority and appoints the principal staff, subject to the board’s approval.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Executive Director proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends the plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting.
- Signs off on spending. As the town’s Chief Procurement Officer she oversees purchasing, and no bill is paid until she approves the weekly warrant.
- Answers to the board. The Executive Director is appointed by the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of the 240 Town Meeting members elected from your precinct.
The Administration
- Principal staff, including the Assistant Executive Director, Corey Testa, are appointed by the Executive Director subject to Select Board approval, and carry out policy from plowing snow to running Town Hall counters.
- The Select Board is the check: it appoints the Executive Director, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, including the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Historical Commission, decide questions like zoning, historic preservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482.
- Select Board Office: 781-431-1019 ext. 2201.
- Ask a question: the town bylaws require a system, run by the Executive Director’s office, for taking action on citizen inquiries. Call the Select Board Office or use the contact forms at wellesleyma.gov.
- Show up: the Select Board meets most weeks, usually on a Tuesday evening, 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.