GREENFIELD — After a relatively lengthy discussion, City Council voted this week not to appoint candidates recommended by Mayor Roxann Wedegartner for seats on local commissions in favor of waiting for the incoming administration to consider the candidate pool.
“The … election told us the direction our city wants to see decisions being made,” said Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock. “Allowing our incoming mayor to appoint as she sees fit … I think is important.”
Appointments would fill vacancies on the Commission on Disability Access; Franklin County Technical School Committee; Greenfield Community Energy and Technology’s (GCET) Board of Commissioners; and the Greenfield Cultural Council.
While some councilors felt “the mayor is the mayor until she’s done,” others viewed the appointments before them as “lame duck appointments.”
“While I suspect I would probably be more likely to agree with the types of appointments [Mayor-elect Virginia “Ginny” Desorgher] would make, you don’t get to take over as mayor the second the election is over,” said Precinct 7 Councilor Jasper Lapienski. “I don’t think it makes any sense that the next mayor has the right to fill vacancies that are open under this mayor.”
At-Large Councilor Christine Forgey and Precinct 6 Councilor Sheila Gilmour disagreed.
“I think these appointments have been open for a long time, and there was an opportunity to fill them,” Gilmour said. “And now we’re doing them in the last two weeks.”
Desorgher told councilors that the only commission for which a delay in appointments would create a quorum problem was the Commission on Disability Access; however, that commission doesn’t plan to meet before the new year.
City Council President Dan Guin cautioned councilors that the next time the appointments would appear before City Council would be in February.
Ultimately, the motion to accept the new appointments failed. The motion to accept a number of reappointments, however, passed. Those included Patricia Jordan and Linda Smith to the Council on Aging; Tim Fisk to the Greenfield Cultural Council; Jim Geisman to the Parking and Traffic Commission; and John Ambo to the Trustees of the Soldiers Memorial.
In other appointments, Lora Wondolowski received unanimous support to serve as the Precinct 8 councilor, a seat vacated by Doug Mayo in September. She was sworn in on Wednesday, allowing her to participate in City Council discussions that evening.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter (X): @MaryEByrne.