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Municipal votes · 2021–2022 Board

Townsend Select Board

How the Townsend Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide for three-year terms. Chaz Sexton-Diranian joined the board after the April 26, 2021 town election, succeeding Wayne Miller. The minutes from April 27 to June 1, 2021, including the reorganization, are not posted; from June 2, 2021 the minutes list Veronica Kell as Chairman, Joseph Shank as Vice Chairman and Chaz Sexton-Diranian as Clerk. Covers 37 meetings, June 2 to April 20, 2022.

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 budget
Election Day · Tuesday, Nov 3

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Board years

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MassVoter can’t read Townsend’s meeting calendar automatically yet. See upcoming meetings on the official site →

What Town Meeting decided

In Townsend, 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.

Special Town Meeting · May 5, 2026 1 votes: 1 passed

Sessions: May 5, 2026 (held during the Annual Town Meeting)

Source: Town Clerk: Annual and Special Town Meeting Minutes, May 5, 2026 (PDF) - Special Town Meeting part.

Annual Town Meeting · May 5, 2026 20 votes: 13 passed, 2 passed as amended, 1 indefinitely postponed, 4 no action

Source: Town Clerk: Annual and Special Town Meeting Minutes, May 5, 2026 (PDF) - Annual Town Meeting part.

Special Town Meeting · February 25, 2026 9 votes: 4 passed, 2 failed, 3 no action

Sessions: Called for February 25, 2026; recessed for weather and held March 19, 2026

Source: Town Clerk: Special Town Meeting Minutes, February 25, 2026 (held March 19, 2026) (PDF).

Special Town Meeting · September 25, 2025 6 votes: 3 passed, 2 failed, 1 tabled

Source: Town Clerk: Special Town Meeting Minutes, September 25, 2025 (PDF).

Special Town Meeting · June 18, 2025 5 votes: 3 passed, 1 passed as amended, 1 no action

Sessions: June 18 and June 23, 2025

Source: Town Clerk: Special and Annual Town Meeting Minutes, May 6, 2025, and Special Town Meeting Minutes, June 18, 2025 (rev1, PDF) - June 18, 2025 Special Town Meeting part (adjourned to June 23, 2025).

Special Town Meeting · May 6, 2025 4 votes: 4 passed

Sessions: May 6, 2025 (held during the Annual Town Meeting)

Source: Town Clerk: Special and Annual Town Meeting Minutes, May 6, 2025, and Special Town Meeting Minutes, June 18, 2025 (rev1, PDF) - May 6, 2025 Special Town Meeting part.

Annual Town Meeting · May 6, 2025 19 votes: 18 passed, 1 no action

Sessions: May 6, June 18 and June 23, 2025

Source: Town Clerk: Special and Annual Town Meeting Minutes, May 6, 2025, and Special Town Meeting Minutes, June 18, 2025 (rev1, PDF) - Annual Town Meeting part (sessions May 6, June 18 and June 23, 2025).

Special Town Meeting · August 20, 2024 11 votes: 9 passed, 1 failed, 1 no action

Source: Town of Townsend 2024 Annual Town Report: Special Town Meeting Minutes, August 20, 2024, by the Town Clerk (PDF pp. 80-85).

Special Town Meeting · May 7, 2024 17 votes: 13 passed, 1 passed as amended, 3 failed

Sessions: May 7, 2024 (opened during the Annual Town Meeting)

Source: Town of Townsend 2024 Annual Town Report: Annual and Special Town Meeting Minutes, May 7, 2024, by the Town Clerk - Special Town Meeting part (PDF pp. 34-39).

Annual Town Meeting · May 7, 2024 20 votes: 16 passed, 2 failed, 2 no action

Sessions: May 7 and May 9, 2024

Source: Town of Townsend 2024 Annual Town Report: Annual and Special Town Meeting Minutes, May 7, 2024 (reconvened May 9, 2024), by the Town Clerk - Annual Town Meeting part (PDF pp. 38-78).

Special Town Meeting · March 19, 2024 4 votes: 4 passed

Source: Town of Townsend 2024 Annual Town Report: Special Town Meeting Minutes, March 19, 2024, by the Town Clerk (PDF pp. 26-27).

Not here yet: A Special Town Meeting held January 28, 2025 is not here because its minutes are not posted; no Town Meeting after May 5, 2026 is posted yet.

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).

Members

Chaz Sexton-DiranianClerk · At-large · at 37 of 37 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: Townsend Select Board minutes from January 16, 2018 through July 22, 2026: 305 meetings and 3,183 votes. The board had three members until 2026. Article 7 of the May 6, 2025 Annual Town Meeting (a citizens’ petition) enlarged it to five members, and voters ratified the change as Question 1 at the April 27, 2026 town election (884 to 380). The special election for the two new seats (terms to April 2028 and April 2029) was set for October 6, 2026 and then postponed by court order to December 8, 2026, so as of October 12, 2026 three members serve and two seats are vacant. The town’s Agendas and Minutes page holds the board’s minutes back to 2010 (2017 has few files); MassVoter has loaded 2018 on. The minutes call the board the Board of Selectmen until spring 2023; from May 2023 they use “Selectboard” or “Select Board,” mixed with the old name until late 2024. Nearly all minutes files are scanned images (signed, Town Clerk-stamped copies), which MassVoter read with text recognition and checked where names or counts were unclear; the March 20, 2018 and March 5, 2019 minutes are Word files, and a few files (among them April 7 to May 7, 2026) have searchable text. Not here: executive-session minutes (the June 9 and June 23, 2020 meetings, which have only executive-session minutes, are loaded from those released minutes); cancelled meetings; votes of the Housing Authority, Water Commissioners, Planning Board, Finance Committee and other boards at joint meetings; meetings with an agenda but no posted minutes, among them February 1 and 2, 2021, April 27 to June 15, 2021 (including the 2021 reorganization), and several dates in 2018, 2020, late 2021 and February 2022; dates where the file posted is the wrong one or incomplete (the March 10, 2020 file repeats the August 4, 2020 minutes and is loaded once; the July 30, 2020 file is the June 30, 2020 minutes, with page 2 missing; the March 6, 2020 agenda is a March 6, 2021 budget work session); and meetings after July 22, 2026 (the August 5 to October 6, 2026 minutes are not posted yet). Townsend’s minutes have used several forms: in 2018 and 2019 “Unanimous vote” or a count after the mover and seconder’s initials; from 2020 to 2022 roll calls by initials or name (“CSD (NO) VK (YES)”) or “Motion was passed with all in favor”; and since 2023 a roll call by name on nearly every vote (“Roll call vote: Veronica Kell - aye, Valerie Goodrich - aye, Laura Shifrin - aye”). A count equal to the members present, or unanimous wording, is shown as every member present voting yes. On a three-member board, when the minutes name one member voting no, the other two are shown voting yes. Where the count and the names in the minutes disagree we show the count only (1 vote), and where the minutes give no count or names we show the result only (55 votes, most of them the board’s positions on 2018 and 2019 Town Meeting articles). Members who recused themselves, abstained or were out of the room are shown that way or left out of that vote, with a note; members who arrived late or left early are shown only in the votes they were there for. A motion with no recorded outcome is not counted as a vote. We will ask the town to confirm any noted vote.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022 · Regular meeting9 recorded votes, 1 with disagreementAll 3 members presentWednesday, April 13, 2022 · Regular meeting6 recorded votes, 0 with disagreementAll 3 members presentTuesday, April 5, 2022 · Regular meeting28 recorded votes, 3 with disagreementAll 3 members presentMonday, April 4, 2022 · Regular meeting1 recorded votes, 0 with disagreementAll 3 members presentSaturday, April 2, 2022 · Regular meeting1 recorded votes, 0 with disagreementAll 3 members present

Votes where members disagreed

Most board votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.

Apr 5Approve the minutes of 2/2/2022Motion: motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Shank

April 5, 2022: Approve the minutes of 2/2/2022

Approve minutesPassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 2/2/2022. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor; Joe Shank abstaining.

Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianAbstained: Shank

From the minutes

“motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 2/2/2022. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor; Joe Shank abstaining..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)

Apr 5Approve the minutes of 2/14/2022Motion: motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Shank

April 5, 2022: Approve the minutes of 2/14/2022

Approve minutesPassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 2/14/2022. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor; Joe Shank abstaining.

Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianAbstained: Shank

From the minutes

“motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 2/14/2022. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor; Joe Shank abstaining..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)

Apr 5Appoint Sabrina Moore as Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard…Motion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Shank

April 5, 2022: Appoint Sabrina Moore as Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard and the Town Administrator contingent upon a CORI check and pre-employment physical with a one-year probationary period

AppointPassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to appoint Sabrina Moore as Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard and the Town Administrator contingent upon a CORI check and pre-employment physical with a one-year probationary period. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell both voting yes and Joe Shank abstaining.

Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianAbstained: Shank

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to appoint Sabrina Moore as Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard and the Town Administrator contingent upon a CORI check and pre-employment physical with a one-year probationary period. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell both voting yes and Joe Shank abstaining..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 2 (PDF)

Mar 15Accept the petition for private roads Harbor Trace and…Motion: motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank…Failed 0–3 · No: Kell, Sexton-Diranian, Shank

March 15, 2022: Accept the petition for private roads Harbor Trace and Cooperate Way town roads and to notify the Planning Board of such per Ch 175-21 B(2)

ApproveFailed · 0–3

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to accept the petition for private roads Harbor Trace and Cooperate Way town roads and to notify the Planning Board of such per Ch 175-21 B(2). Motion failed with roll call vote: Joe Shank- no; Chaz Sexton-Diranian- no; Veronica Kell-no.

No: Kell, Sexton-Diranian, Shank

From the minutes

“motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to accept the petition for private roads Harbor Trace and Cooperate Way town roads and to notify the Planning Board of such per Ch 175-21 B(2). Motion failed with roll call vote: Joe Shank- no; Chaz Sexton-Diranian- no; Veronica Kell-no..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Shank)

Read it in the official minutes, page 2 (PDF)

Mar 1Approve the minutes of 03/23/2021Motion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Sexton-Diranian

March 1, 2022: Approve the minutes of 03/23/2021

Approve minutesPassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to approve the minutes of 03/23/2021. Motion passed with Joe Shank and Veronica Kell in favor; Chaz Sexton- Diranian abstain

Yes: Kell, ShankAbstained: Sexton-Diranian

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to approve the minutes of 03/23/2021. Motion passed with Joe Shank and Veronica Kell in favor; Chaz Sexton- Diranian abstain.” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Shank)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)

Mar 1Approve the minutes of 04/16/2021Motion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Sexton-Diranian

March 1, 2022: Approve the minutes of 04/16/2021

Approve minutesPassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to approve the minutes of 04/16/2021. Amendment: add link to meeting recording. Motion passed with Joe Shank and Veronica Kell in favor; Chaz Sexton-Diranian abstain.

Yes: Kell, ShankAbstained: Sexton-Diranian

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to approve the minutes of 04/16/2021. Amendment: add link to meeting recording. Motion passed with Joe Shank and Veronica Kell in favor; Chaz Sexton-Diranian abstain..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Shank)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)

Feb 1Accept the UPWP project application letterMotion: motion to accept the UPWP project application letter was made by…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note

February 1, 2022 (Joint meeting): Accept the UPWP project application letter

ApprovePassed · Unanimous, 3 present

Motion to accept the UPWP project application letter was made by Carol Hoffses and seconded by Julie Byars. Motion passed with Carol Hoffses, Julie Byars, lan Ortiz and Laura Shifrin all in favor by roll call vote.

The minutes do not say who made this motion.

From the minutes

“motion to accept the UPWP project application letter was made by Carol Hoffses and seconded by Julie Byars. Motion passed with Carol Hoffses, Julie Byars, lan Ortiz and Laura Shifrin all in favor by roll call vote..”

Read it in the official minutes, page 2 (PDF)

Feb 1Place a CR on the Squannacook Meadow propertyMotion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank…Passed 2–1 · No: Shank

February 1, 2022 (Joint meeting): Place a CR on the Squannacook Meadow property

ApprovePassed · 2–1

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to place a CR on the Squannacook Meadow property. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell voting yes and Joe Shank voting no.

Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianNo: Shank

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Joe Shank to place a CR on the Squannacook Meadow property. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell voting yes and Joe Shank voting no..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Shank)

Read it in the official minutes, page 2 (PDF)

Jan 18Sign the GL 268a s. 20d disclosure form submitted…Motion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Shank

January 18, 2022: Sign the GL 268a s. 20d disclosure form submitted by Joe Shank

ApprovePassed · 2–0

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to sign the GL 268a s. 20d disclosure form submitted by Joe Shank. Discussion: Joe Shank is the owner of Harbor Auto Body and has done and continues to do towing for town entities. No funds are exchanged between the town and the tow company. There are no contracts in place at the moment. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor and Joe Shank abstaining.

Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianAbstained: Shank

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to sign the GL 268a s. 20d disclosure form submitted by Joe Shank. Discussion: Joe Shank is the owner of Harbor Auto Body and has done and continues to do towing for town entities. No funds are exchanged between the town and the tow company. There are no contracts in place at the moment. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor and Joe Shank abstaining..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 4 (PDF)

Jan 4Approve the minutes of 11/8/2021Motion: Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell…Passed Unanimous, 2 present · see note

January 4, 2022: Approve the minutes of 11/8/2021

Approve minutesPassed · Unanimous, 2 present

Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 11/8/2021. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor. Joe Shank recuse

Joseph Z. Shank did not take part in this vote (“Joe Shank recuse”) and is not shown voting.

From the minutes

“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes of 11/8/2021. Motion passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor. Joe Shank recuse.” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)

From the Townsend Select Board’s official minutes, posted on the town’s Agendas and Minutes page (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): Town of Townsend Candidates Night video — Valerie Goodrich and Sarah Logan (April 2025); Just Townies — Laura Shifrin (October 2023). Cropped by MassVoter. Former members show initials.

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