How the Townsend Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide for three-year terms. Theresa A. Morse joined the board after the April 25, 2022 town election, succeeding Joseph Shank. On April 27, 2022 the board unanimously chose Veronica Kell as Chairman, Chaz Sexton-Diranian as Vice-Chair and Theresa Morse as Clerk. On March 7, 2023, because Veronica Kell was not running again, the board made Chaz Sexton-Diranian Chair and Veronica Kell Vice-Chair. Veronica Kell’s last meeting in this term was April 18, 2023. Covers 35 meetings, April 27 to April 18, 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.
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)
Art. 1Transfer $312,817 from free cash to cover the FY2026 snow and ice deficitPassed“VOTED: Passed unanimously.”
Art. 10Raise money outside Proposition 2 1/2 to balance the FY2026 budgetNo action“VOTE: Passed unanimously.”
Art. 13Appropriate $2,169,359.62 from Water Enterprise revenues for the FY2026 Water Department budgetPassed“VOTE: Passed by majority.”
Art. 14Fund $245,620 of the FY2026 capital plan (loader lease, Memorial Hall fire suppression, cruisers, water studies)Passed“VOTE: Passed unanimously.”
Art. 10Transfer $100,000 from ambulance receipts for Fire Department emergency vehicle equipment (amended from $35,000)Passed as amended“VOTE: Passed by majority”
Art. 11Transfer $181,010 from free cash to cover the FY2024 snow and ice deficitPassed“VOTED: Passed by majority”
Art. 2Appropriate $287,138 for FY2025 Nashoba Valley Tech assessments, contingent on a Proposition 2 1/2 overridePassed“VOTED: Article 2 passed by majority.”
Art. 4Appropriate $1,461,294 for FY2025 North Middlesex Regional School District assessments, contingent on an overridePassed“VOTED: Article 4 passed by majority.”
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).
"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.
Most board votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.
Mar 28Review and approve the Nashua Rivers Wild & Scenic…Motion: Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
March 28, 2023: Review and approve the Nashua Rivers Wild & Scenic Stewardship Council 2022 Report
ApprovePassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to review and approve the Nashua Rivers Wild & Scenic Stewardship Council 2022 Report. Motion was made with all in favor unanimously.
The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to review and approve the Nashua Rivers Wild & Scenic Stewardship Council 2022 Report. Motion was made with all in favor unanimously..” (second: Kell)
Mar 7Accept the meeting minutes for 11/01/2022Motion: Motion was made by Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
March 7, 2023: Accept the meeting minutes for 11/01/2022
Approve minutesPassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Motion was made by Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian to accept the meeting minutes for 11/01/2022. Motion was passed
The two-column scan splits the outcome (“Motion was passed with all … in favor”); it is read as all members present voting yes.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian to accept the meeting minutes for 11/01/2022. Motion was passed.” (Motion: Morse, second: Sexton-Diranian)
Mar 7Open the Special Town Meeting warrant 03/07/2023 and close…Motion: Motion was made Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian to…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
March 7, 2023: Open the Special Town Meeting warrant 03/07/2023 and close it 04/04/2023
ApprovePassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Motion was made Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian to open the Special Town Meeting warrant 03/07/2023 and close it 04/04/2023. Motion was passed with all in favor.
The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was made Theresa Morse and seconded by Chaz Sexton-Diranian to open the Special Town Meeting warrant 03/07/2023 and close it 04/04/2023. Motion was passed with all in favor..” (second: Sexton-Diranian)
Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve meeting minutes for 07/19/2022. Motion passed with Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton-Diranian in favor.
Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianThe roll call lists Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton-Diranian but not Theresa A. Morse, who is recorded at the meeting; that member is not shown voting.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve meeting minutes for 07/19/2022. Motion passed with Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton-Diranian in favor..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)
Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve meeting minutes for 08/02/2022. Motion was passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor.
Yes: Kell, Sexton-DiranianThe roll call lists Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell but not Theresa A. Morse, who is recorded at the meeting; that member is not shown voting.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve meeting minutes for 08/02/2022. Motion was passed with Chaz Sexton-Diranian and Veronica Kell in favor..” (Motion: Sexton-Diranian, second: Kell)
Jan 3Appoint Dave as temporary OPM Operation Project Manager of…Motion: Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
January 3, 2023: Appoint Dave as temporary OPM Operation Project Manager of the Water Treatment Plant until a permanent OPM is found
AppointPassed · Unanimous, 3 present
Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to appoint Dave as temporary OPM Operation Project Manager of the Water Treatment Plant until a permanent OPM is found. Motion was passed with all in favor.
The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was made by Theresa and seconded by Veronica Kell to appoint Dave as temporary OPM Operation Project Manager of the Water Treatment Plant until a permanent OPM is found. Motion was passed with all in favor..” (second: Kell)
Nov 15Add "being less than Unitil's G2 December | rateMotion: Motion was edited by Veronica Kell and seconded by Theresa Morse…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
Motion was edited by Veronica Kell and seconded by Theresa Morse to add "being less than Unitil's G2 December | rate". Motion was passed with all in favor.
The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was edited by Veronica Kell and seconded by Theresa Morse to add "being less than Unitil's G2 December | rate". Motion was passed with all in favor..” (second: Morse)
Nov 1Accept the fee reduction as proposed by the Zoning…Motion: Motion was made Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to…Failed 0–2 · No: Kell, Sexton-Diranian
November 1, 2022: Accept the fee reduction as proposed by the Zoning Board of appeals
ApproveFailed · 0–2
Motion was made Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to accept the fee reduction as proposed by the Zoning Board of appeals. Short Discussion as to reasoning of reduction and why approval is needed by the Board of Selectmen. Motion was passed with Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton- Diranian not in favor
No: Kell, Sexton-DiranianThe minutes say “Motion was passed with Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton-Diranian not in favor, both voted no.” They were the only two members at the meeting, so the motion is shown as failed. We will ask the town to confirm. The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was made Chaz Sexton-Diranian and seconded by Veronica Kell to accept the fee reduction as proposed by the Zoning Board of appeals. Short Discussion as to reasoning of reduction and why approval is needed by the Board of Selectmen. Motion was passed with Veronica Kell and Chaz Sexton- Diranian not in favor.” (second: Kell)
Motion was made to approve the minutes from 04/05/2022 by Theresa Morse and seconded by Veronica Kell. Veronica Kell corrected some form and cut and paste rrors on Page 2 and 3. Roll call vote Theresa Morse and Veronica Kell in favor.
Yes: Kell, MorseThe roll call lists Theresa A. Morse and Veronica Kell but not Chaz Sexton-Diranian, who is recorded at the meeting; that member is not shown voting. The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“Motion was made to approve the minutes from 04/05/2022 by Theresa Morse and seconded by Veronica Kell. Veronica Kell corrected some form and cut and paste rrors on Page 2 and 3. Roll call vote Theresa Morse and Veronica Kell in favor..” (second: Kell)
Otion was made by Theresa Morse and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes from 05/17/2022. Veronica Kell corrected typos on Page 3 and 6. Roll call vote Theresa Morse and Veronica Kell in favor.
Yes: Kell, MorseThe roll call lists Theresa A. Morse and Veronica Kell but not Chaz Sexton-Diranian, who is recorded at the meeting; that member is not shown voting.
From the minutes
“otion was made by Theresa Morse and seconded by Veronica Kell to approve the minutes from 05/17/2022. Veronica Kell corrected typos on Page 3 and 6. Roll call vote Theresa Morse and Veronica Kell in favor..” (Motion: Morse, second: Kell)
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.