WILBRAHAM — The Wilbraham Select Board emphasized the need for resident volunteers to fill vacancies in town committees during its July 8 meeting.
At the meeting, the Select Board discussed which committees they were looking to move forward with filling vacancies as well as how to best notify the town about the vacancies. Members highlighted multiple ways to reach out to residents including social media, press releases, townwide calls and connections through the committees themselves.
Member Michael Squindo stated that the Select Board was looking for recommendations from the individual committees and would move forward with the screening process after that step.
Chair Susan Bunnell further noted that the list of current vacancies was more difficult to find on the Wilbraham website than on certain other towns’ websites. “We’ve seen town websites that have flashing banners and ours is a little harder to navigate to,” she said.
Wilbraham’s list of vacancies is located on the town website under “How do I,” then “Apply for,” then “Volunteer.” The page, available at wilbraham-ma.gov/612/Volunteer, contains a link to the current list of vacancies, which names the number of positions on each committee that is open and the length of the term. Other documents on the page include the needed forms to volunteer, relevant policy information and a list of the town’s committees.
To increase the visibility of the vacancy list, Squindo suggested creating a link on the home page of the town website while member Marc Ducey highlighted that the town also needed to focus on increasing the number of residents who visit the website.
Another discussion raised by the council included whether to establish deadlines for every vacancy or to have a rolling application.
“During reappointments, every seat for reappointment is open and if people are interested, they should express [their interest] if for no other reason than to get that interview and get before the board and be noted so that when we’re trying to fill a vacancy that comes up mid-year we’ve already got someone who expressed interest at some point,” Squindo emphasized.
“I guess my thought would be to tell people always apply, always put the request in, particularly when there is an existing opening or reappointment process that we’re reviewing applications. But I wouldn’t discourage anybody from putting in a request on whatever day with no vacancies just because they wanted it to be noted that they have interest if it should come up.”
Bunnell went on to state that Administrative Assistant Heather Kmelius notes when applications are received and will reach out to interested residents when openings are available. Kmelius stated during the meeting that an updated list of the current vacancies would be posted on the town website following the July 8 meeting. The list was not available by press time.
Moving forward, the Select Board will first look toward filling the vacancy on the Wilbraham Economic Development Committee after the chair requested that the Select Board fill the position as soon as possible, Bunnell said.
According to the town website, this committee currently has one vacancy.
