How the Shirley Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 3 Select Board members elected townwide for three-year terms. On July 17, 2023 the board approved a reorganization effective July 31, 2023: Andree Jean Jacques as Chair, Debra Flagg as Vice Chair and Bryan Sawyer as Clerk. Bryan Sawyer did not run again; Brian Hildebrant won his seat at the May 7, 2024 town election (255 to 250 over Jennifer McGuinness). Bryan Sawyer’s last meeting as a member was May 6, 2024; from June 3, 2024 the minutes list Brian Hildebrant as Clerk. On June 17, 2024 the board appointed Bryan Sawyer Town Administrator (2-0, Brian Hildebrant abstaining); from then on the minutes’ “Mr. Sawyer” is the Town Administrator, who does not vote. Covers 22 meetings, July 31 to June 17, 2024.
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.
Under the state Open Meeting Law, boards post notice at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and legal holidays.
What Town Meeting decided
In Shirley, Town Meeting — not the Select Board — votes the town budget, bylaws and zoning. Here is what it did with each article, in the Town Clerk’s own words. Any registered voter can take part, and most votes are by voice or show of hands, so there is no list of who voted which way.
Annual Town Meeting · May 11, 2026 26 votes: 22 passed, 1 passed as amended, 3 no action
Not here yet: No Shirley Town Meeting after May 11, 2026 is posted yet; Shirley's fall Special Town Meeting is usually in mid-November (November 18, 2024; November 17, 2025).
Titles are short descriptions of each article from the official record; the quoted words are the Town Clerk’s. A vote at Town Meeting is not the final word on everything: some articles also need a ballot vote (such as a tax override) or the Attorney General’s approval (bylaws).
"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: Shirley Select Board minutes from January 5, 2022 through September 8, 2026: 105 meetings and 1,266 votes. The town’s Agenda Center has Select Board minutes from January 2022 on; nothing earlier is online (the Archive Center and Document Center hold annual town reports, warrants and Town Meeting minutes, but no Select Board minutes). Minutes from 2022 to mid-2024 are typed files; most minutes since August 2024 are scanned images of the signed minutes, which MassVoter read with text recognition and checked where names or counts were unclear. Not here: executive-session meetings; votes of the Planning Board, Sewer Commission, Recreation Commission, War Memorial Trustees, Board of Assessors, Cemetery Committee and other boards at joint meetings (the minutes record each board’s vote separately); meetings with an agenda but no posted minutes, among them July 14 and July 25, 2022, September 11 and 14, 2023, June 16 and September 22, 2025, and May 20 and July 14, 2026 (the file posted for May 20, 2026 is a second copy of the March 23, 2026 minutes; the July 14, 2026 agenda includes the board’s reorganization); and meetings after September 8, 2026 (the September 24, September 28 and October 5, 2026 minutes are not posted yet). Shirley’s minutes name the mover and seconder and give a count (“Ms. Flagg made a motion to appoint Traci Bateman to the STAC. Ms. Jean Jacques seconded, Motion passed, 2-0, unanimous”), with abstentions named (“Motion passed, 2-0, Mr. Hildebrant Abstained”). A count equal to the members present, or unanimous wording, is shown as every member present voting yes; a named abstention is shown that way, with the other members present voting yes. Several minutes list fewer members in the attendance line than the votes show (for example, a member who called the meeting to order but is missing from the list, with votes recorded 3-0); on a three-member board a 3-0 vote means all three voted, so those members are counted present, with a note. Where the count is lower than the members present and the minutes do not say who did not vote (most often the board’s own officer elections, recorded 2-0 with three members present), we show the count only (10 votes); where the minutes give no count or names we show the result only (2 votes, both from the February 10, 2025 minutes, which are written as a narrative summary). Bryan Sawyer served on the board until May 2024 and has been Town Administrator since June 2024; as Town Administrator he does not vote. A motion with no recorded outcome, or one that died for lack of a second, is not counted as a vote. We will ask the town to confirm any noted vote.
Most board votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.
Jun 17Appoint Mr. Sawyer as the New Town Administrator contingent…Motion: Ms. Flagg made a motion to appoint Mr. Sawyer as the…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Hildebrant
June 17, 2024: Appoint Mr. Sawyer as the New Town Administrator contingent on contract negotiation and that he do a grant writing course
AppointPassed · 2–0
Ms. Flagg made a motion to appoint Mr. Sawyer as the New Town Administrator contingent on contract negotiation and that he do a grant writing course. Mr. Hildebrant seconded. Motion passed, 2-0, Mr. Hildebrant Abstained.
Yes: Flagg, JacquesAbstained: Hildebrant
From the minutes
“Ms. Flagg made a motion to appoint Mr. Sawyer as the New Town Administrator contingent on contract negotiation and that he do a grant writing course. Mr. Hildebrant seconded. Motion passed, 2-0, Mr. Hildebrant Abstained..” (Motion: Debra Flagg, second: Brian Hildebrant)
Jun 3Approve meeting minutes for 4/22/2024Motion: Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 4/22/2024.…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
June 3, 2024: Approve meeting minutes for 4/22/2024
Approve minutesPassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 4/22/2024. Mr. Sawyer seconded. Motion passed, 3-0, unanimous.
The minutes name “Mr. Sawyer” as the seconder, but Bryan Sawyer had left the board in May 2024 (Brian Hildebrant took his seat), so no seconder is shown.
From the minutes
“Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 4/22/2024. Mr. Sawyer seconded. Motion passed, 3-0, unanimous..” (Motion: Debra Flagg)
Jun 3Approve meeting minutes for 5/6/2024Motion: Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 5/6/2024.…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
June 3, 2024: Approve meeting minutes for 5/6/2024
Approve minutesPassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 5/6/2024. Mr. Sawyer seconded. Motion passed, 3-0, unanimous.
The minutes name “Mr. Sawyer” as the seconder, but Bryan Sawyer had left the board in May 2024 (Brian Hildebrant took his seat), so no seconder is shown.
From the minutes
“Ms. Flagg made a motion to approve meeting minutes for 5/6/2024. Mr. Sawyer seconded. Motion passed, 3-0, unanimous..” (Motion: Debra Flagg)
Sep 25Elect David Swain to the Sewer Commission (joint vote…Motion: Mr. Guercio called for a roll call vote in favor of…Passed Unanimous, 2 present · see note
September 25, 2023: Elect David Swain to the Sewer Commission (joint vote with the Sewer Commission)
AppointPassed · Unanimous, 2 present
Mr. Guercio called for a roll call vote in favor of electing Mr. Swain to the Sewer Commission, Mr. Donald Farrar seconded: Mr. Leonardo Guercio: in favor Mr. Donald Farrar Jr.: in favor Mr. Hugh Muffoletto: in favor Mr. Paul Wilson: in favor Sewer Commission Roll call vote approved Ms. Jean Jacques: in favor Ms. Debra Flagg: in favor Select Board Roll Call vote approved
Joint meeting with the Sewer Commission to fill a vacancy: the Sewer Commission chair called the vote; the Select Board members are shown as the roll call lists them (Sewer Commission members left out).
From the minutes
“Mr. Guercio called for a roll call vote in favor of electing Mr. Swain to the Sewer Commission, Mr. Donald Farrar seconded: Mr. Leonardo Guercio: in favor Mr. Donald Farrar Jr.: in favor Mr. Hugh Muffoletto: in favor Mr. Paul Wilson: in favor Sewer Commission Roll call vote approved Ms. Jean Jacques: in favor Ms. Debra Flagg: in favor Select Board Roll Call vote approved.”
From the Shirley Select Board’s official minutes, posted in the town’s Agenda Center (Select Board). We check every vote against the Select Board members present and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades or scores officials. Photos (the town’s website has no Select Board photos): Lowell Sun / Nashoba Valley Voice — Andree Lourdes Jean Jacques (May 2025, courtesy of the candidate). Debra Flagg and Brian Hildebrant show initials (no named photo found). Cropped by MassVoter. Former members show initials.