MassVoter.com← CantonMunicipal votes · 2022–2023 Board
Canton Select Board
How the Canton Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide. Same five members after the April 2022 town election. The minutes of the spring 2022 reorganization are not posted; from October 2022 the minutes list John J. Connolly as Chair, Lisa R. Lopez as Vice-Chair and Thomas W. Theodore as Clerk. Covers 16 meetings, April 26 to March 28, 2023.
A monthly email on what it voted on, starting in November.
What does the Select Board do? It is the town’s executive board. It prepares the Town Meeting warrant (the list of articles voters decide), appoints members of many town boards, hires the town’s top staff, signs warrants to pay town bills, and grants licenses and permits.
Town Meeting, not the Select Board, votes the town budget and town bylaws.
Sources: Massachusetts Select Board Handbook (MMA) · Mass. Division of Local Services: the town budgetBoard years
Coming up
MassVoter can’t read Canton’s meeting calendar automatically yet. See upcoming meetings on the official site →
Members
Michael C. LoughranMember · Elected townwide · at 15 of 16 meetingsThomas W. TheodoreClerk · Elected townwide · at 16 of 16 meetings"At X of Y meetings" counts the members the minutes list as present at the start of each meeting in this record. Members who step out are listed on each meeting page.
Meetings
About missing minutes
Loaded: Select Board minutes (called the Board of Selectmen until 2020) from January 9, 2018 through August 25, 2026, from the town’s Laserfiche records archive, which holds Select Board minutes back to 2002 (MassVoter has loaded 2018 on). The town has not posted open-session minutes for 62 meeting dates from 2021 to August 2026 that are listed in its Agenda Center (most of them from June to December 2021, February to December 2022 and February to September 2023, plus three in 2024, six in 2025 and two in 2026), or for any meeting after August 25, 2026. For 27 of those dates the town has posted only the executive-session minutes; we load those as the record of that meeting and say so. Joint meetings with other boards are included, but only the Select Board’s own votes. The minutes are scanned pages with a text layer; ten 2021 files had no text layer, so MassVoter read them with text recognition. Canton’s minutes give the mover, the seconder and the count for almost every vote (“Motion: Mr. J. McCourt Second: Ms. T. Boyden Vote: 5-0”), and split votes name the members who voted no, abstained or stepped aside in brackets (“Vote: 3-2 (Ms. Harrington and Ms. Boyden opposed)”). Remote meetings in 2020–2021 and executive-session votes use roll calls listing each member’s vote. When the count matches the members present, or every member answered in the affirmative, we show every member present as voting yes; when the minutes name the members who voted no or abstained and the count adds up, everyone else present as voting yes. Where the minutes give a split count without names, a roll call leaves out a member who was there or names one the attendance line does not show, or the count does not match the members present, we show the count only and add a note. Motions written down with no vote are shown with the result only. Two members named Connolly (John J. and Christopher J.) served together until 2023; where the minutes say only “Mr. Connolly” we do not guess which one. Members who stepped aside (recused), had not yet arrived or had left are left out of that vote. We will ask the town to confirm any noted vote.
Votes where members disagreed
Most board votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.
Nov 15Approve: Memorandum of Agreement between Town of Canton and…Motion: the Board Approve: Memorandum of Agreement between Town of Canton and…Passed 4–0 · Abstained: Loughran
November 15, 2022: Approve: Memorandum of Agreement between Town of Canton and AFSCM E FY 23-25
The Board Approve: Memorandum of Agreement between Town of Canton and AFSCM E FY 23-25
Yes: Christopher J. Connolly, John J. Connolly, Lopez, TheodoreAbstained: Loughran
From the minutes
“Motion was made that the Board Approve: Memorandum of Agreement between Town of Canton and AFSCM E FY 23-25 Motion: Mr. T. Theodore Second: Mr. C. Connolly Vote: 4-0-1 (Mr. Loughran abstained).” (Motion: Theodore, second: Christopher J. Connolly)
Oct 11Approve: the Police Officers Memorandum of AgreementMotion: the Board Approve: the Police Officers Memorandum of AgreementPassed 4–0 · see note
October 11, 2022: Approve: the Police Officers Memorandum of Agreement
The Board Approve: the Police Officers Memorandum of Agreement
The minutes give the vote as 4-0, but 5 members were present (John J. Connolly, Lisa R. Lopez, Thomas W. Theodore, Christopher J. Connolly and Michael C. Loughran). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Motion was made that the Board Approve: the Police Officers Memorandum of Agreement Motion: Mr. C. Connolly Second: Mr. M. Loughran Vote: 4-0-1, Mr..” (Motion: Christopher J. Connolly, second: Loughran)
Oct 11Approve: PAF for Detective SergeantMotion: the Board Approve: PAF for Detective SergeantPassed 4–0 · see note
October 11, 2022: Approve: PAF for Detective Sergeant
The Board Approve: PAF for Detective Sergeant
The minutes give the vote as 4-0, but 5 members were present (John J. Connolly, Lisa R. Lopez, Thomas W. Theodore, Christopher J. Connolly and Michael C. Loughran). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Motion was made that the Board Approve: PAF for Detective Sergeant Motion: Mr. C. Connolly Second: Mr. M. Loughran Vote: 4-0-1, Mr..” (Motion: Christopher J. Connolly, second: Loughran)
Oct 11Approve: PAF for DetectiveMotion: the Board Approve: PAF for DetectivePassed 4–0 · see note
October 11, 2022: Approve: PAF for Detective
The Board Approve: PAF for Detective
The minutes give the vote as 4-0, but 5 members were present (John J. Connolly, Lisa R. Lopez, Thomas W. Theodore, Christopher J. Connolly and Michael C. Loughran). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Motion was made that the Board Approve: PAF for Detective Motion: Mr. C. Connolly Second: Mr. M. Loughran Vote: 4-0-1, Mr..” (Motion: Christopher J. Connolly, second: Loughran)
Aug 30The proposal presented by Mr. Aspinwall be accepted up…Motion: the proposal presented by Mr. Aspinwall be accepted up to 4…Passed 4–0 · see note
August 30, 2022 (Special meeting): The proposal presented by Mr. Aspinwall be accepted up to 4 months, and an agreement to reevaluate
The proposal presented by Mr. Aspinwall be accepted up to 4 months, and an agreement to reevaluate
The roll call lists Thomas W. Theodore, but the minutes show this member as not present. Showing the count only. Thomas W. Theodore had left the meeting.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Mr. Theodore,that the proposal presented by Mr. Aspinwall be accepted up to 4 months, and an agreement to reevaluate, seconded by Mr. C. Connolly Roll call was taken and each answered in the affirmative Mr. M. Loughran Affirmative Mr. C. Connolly Affirmative Mr. T. Theodore Affirmative Mr. J. Connolly Affirmative Mr. Theodore left the meeting at 7:53 PM. Chief Rafferty entered the meeting at 7:53 PM. Mr. Aspinwall updated the Board on the progress that he an Ms. Middleton had made with negotiating with the Police Union . The discussion continued - Roll call was taken and each answered in the affirmative Mr. M. Loughran Affirmative Mr. C. Connolly Affirmative Mr. J. Connolly Affirmative.” (Motion: Theodore, second: Christopher J. Connolly)
Jul 12Cover the expenses for the claim for the Roberts…Motion: to cover the expenses for the claim for the Roberts Road…Passed 3–0 · see note
July 12, 2022 (Special meeting): Cover the expenses for the claim for the Roberts Road sewer claim, out of mitigation
To cover the expenses for the claim for the Roberts Road sewer claim, out of mitigation
The minutes give the count as 3-0, but the roll call reads: Michael C. Loughran yes, Lisa R. Lopez abstained, Christopher J. Connolly abstained, Thomas W. Theodore yes, John J. Connolly yes. Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Motion was made to cover the expenses for the claim for the Roberts Road sewer claim, out of mitigation Roll Call was taken, 3-0-2, 3 affirmative, 2 abstain Mr. Loughran Affirmative Ms. Lopez Abstain Mr. C. Connolly Abstain Mr. T. Theodore Affirmative Mr. J. Connolly Affirmative.”
May 24Approve the offerMotion: to approve the offerPassed 4–0 · see note
May 24, 2022 (Special meeting): Approve the offer
To approve the offer
The roll call does not give a vote for Christopher J. Connolly, who was at the meeting. Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Mr. Theodore to approve the offer, seconded by Mr. M. Loughran Roll Call was taken and each answered in the affirmative Mr. Loughran Affirmative Ms. Lopez Affirmative Mr. T. Theodore Affirmative Mr, J. Connolly Affirmative.” (Motion: Theodore, second: Loughran)
From the Canton Select Board’s official minutes, posted in the town’s Laserfiche records archive. We check every vote against the Select Board members present and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades or scores officials. Photos: The Canton Citizen (Susan M. Harrington, John R. McCourt, Michael C. Loughran and Julie Beckham, from their candidacy announcements; Patricia M. Boyden cropped from a captioned photo of the board by Moira Sweetland, February 2026).
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