GREENFIELD — City Council President Ashli Stempel has appointed the chairs and members of the City Council subcommittees.
The subcommittee membership, according to a press release from City Hall, is as follows:
■Chair: Otis Wheeler
■Christine Forgey
■John Bottomley
■Virginia DeSorgher
■Philip Elmer
■Chair: Daniel Guin
■Christine Forgey
■Penny Ricketts
■John Bottomley
■Douglas Mayo
■Chair: Timothy Dolan
■Edward Jarvis
■Virginia DeSorgher
■Norman Hirschfeld
■Philip Elmer
■Chair: Sheila Gilmour
■Edward Jarvis
■Norman Hirschfeld
■Douglas Mayo
■Penny Ricketts
Stempel said she and Vice President Otis Wheeler’s goal was to effectively seat the subcommittees in time for the Committee Chairs meeting on Tuesday to allow the council to “go right to work.”
Forming the subcommittees involved “balancing each councilor’s interests and preferences with their strengths,” Stempel said Monday.
She said she also put a lot of thought into deciding which councilor would chair each subcommittee.
“I wanted Vice President Wheeler to stay on as chair of Ways and Means. … He plans on continuing the budgeting process I started in 2017, and our goal is to continue to improve the budget process,” she said. “One of our goals is to engage with the School Committee effectively.”
Stempel said she appointed Dolan as chair of the Economic Development Committee because he has “an impressive work ethic and can-do spirit.”
“There are a lot of ongoing projects, including assessing boards and committees in the city and Dolan will continue them in a leadership role,” Stempel said. “Councilor Dolan will be able to see it and you don’t always get the opportunity to carry over items from the year before.”
As for the Community Relations and Education (CRE) Committee, Stempel said that “Gilmour’s community-based campaign for mayor and interest in the schools” influenced her appointment as chair.
Lastly, Guin was chosen to chair the Appointments and Ordinances Committee because of his “experience with the charter and the ins and outs of city government,” Stempel said.
Stempel said she wants to streamline the process for proposing legislation through the Appointments and Ordinances Committee, and would like a template created.
“It’s going to be a lot of trial and error, tweaking and testing to get where we need to be, and Councilor Guin has excellent strengths to help us do that,” she said.
There is another work in progress for Stempel — putting together a list of boards, committees and commissions that require a sitting city councilor.
“The approach is to gather all of the information and bring it back to the hub,” she said. “We’re working closely with the city clerk and the mayor’s office in a collaborative effort. It’s exciting to be able to do that.”
The recently-elected City Council president said she’s looking forward to working with “an excellent group of people with varying levels of experience and interests.”
Reach Melina Bourdeau at 413-772-0261, ext. 263 or mbourdeau@recorder.com.