MassVoter.com← WestonMunicipal votes · 2019–2020 Board
Weston Select Board
How the Weston Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide for three-year terms (3 members until 2026). Laurie Bent joined the board after the May 2019 town election (first meeting May 14, 2019), succeeding Douglas Gillespie. On May 14, 2019 the board unanimously chose Christopher Houston as Chair and Laurie Bent as Clerk. The minutes call the board the Board of Selectmen through November 13, 2019 and the Select Board from December 10, 2019, after the December 2019 Special Town Meeting (on September 24, 2019 the board voted to ask the Town Manager to draft a by-law article giving the board a gender-neutral name). Because of COVID-19 the 2020 town election was moved to September 10, 2020, so this board served until September 2020; meetings were held remotely from March 17, 2020. Covers 35 meetings, May 14 to September 8, 2020.
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
From the agendas Weston posts on its official site. Agendas can change; the posted agenda is the official one.
Members
Laurie BentClerk · At-large · at 33 of 35 meetingsHarvey BoshartMember · At-large · at 34 of 35 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: Weston Select Board minutes from January 18, 2018 through September 8, 2026: 237 meetings and 1,101 votes. Minutes back to June 2013 are online; MassVoter loaded 2018 on. The minutes call the board the Board of Selectmen through November 13, 2019 and the Select Board from December 10, 2019. The board had three members until May 2026; a special act approved by the May 2025 Annual Town Meeting, the Legislature (signed October 2025) and the voters at a January 13, 2026 special election enlarged it to five, and the first five-member meeting was May 12, 2026. Many minutes from 2024 to 2026 are posted as scanned images; MassVoter read them with text recognition and checked every name and vote line by hand. Included: regular and special meetings, joint meetings with other boards (only the Select Board members’ votes are shown), the Financial Summits and All Committee meetings the board posted, and the board’s own Water Tank Working Group meetings (all three members, 2025-2026). Not here: executive-session minutes; the MBTA 3A Working Group and Fire Station Working Group (separate groups that include some Select Board members), whose minutes are filed in the same Agenda Center folder; summaries of site visits (informational, no votes); meetings with an agenda but no posted minutes (regular meetings on January 11, April 12, June 7 and July 26, 2022 and November 14 and December 5, 2023; a joint meeting with the Recreation Commission on December 13, 2022; and most of the yearly Financial Summits and All Committee meetings, including October 27 and November 1, 2025); and meetings after September 8, 2026 (the September 29, 2026 minutes are not posted yet). Through 2019 most votes read “2nd by Mr. Gillespie. Approved unanimously”, shown as every member present voting yes. Since 2020 nearly every vote is a roll call naming each member who voted yes, with any no vote or abstention named (“Ms. Revers and Mr. McDonald voted in the affirmative and Mr. Palmer voted against”), shown by name. A roll call that leaves out a member who was at the meeting is shown with the named votes only, with a note; where the minutes give no names or count we show the result only (3 votes), and where a roll call names one member twice we show the count only (1 vote). Members who recused themselves, arrived late or left early are shown only in the votes they took part in. A motion with no recorded outcome (several consent agendas, for example) is not counted as a 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.
Jul 31Set the date of the Town Election for September…Motion: MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to set the date of the Town…Passed 2–0 · Abstained: Boshart
July 31, 2020: Set the date of the Town Election for September 10, 2020, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Town Hall, subject to the Town's receipt of a court order authorizing…
MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to set the date of the Town Election for September 10, 2020, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Town Hall, subject to the Town's receipt of a court order authorizing the Town to hold the election on this date. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Roll call vote: Ms. Bent and Mr. Houston voted in the affirmative. Mr. Boshart abstained.
Yes: Bent, HoustonAbstained: Boshart
From the minutes
“MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to set the date of the Town Election for September 10, 2020, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Town Hall, subject to the Town's receipt of a court order authorizing the Town to hold the election on this date. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Roll call vote: Ms. Bent and Mr. Houston voted in the affirmative. Mr. Boshart abstained..” (Motion: Houston, second: Bent)
Jul 14Authorize the Select Board Chair to work with Town…Motion: MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to authorize the Select Board Chair to…Passed 2–0 · see note
July 14, 2020: Authorize the Select Board Chair to work with Town Counsel to pursue a court order on behalf of the Town affirming the validity of a Town Election to be held…
MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to authorize the Select Board Chair to work with Town Counsel to pursue a court order on behalf of the Town affirming the validity of a Town Election to be held on a date to be determined in September 2020 and the ballot to be prepared for such election, which shall include the elections for various Town offices and the debt exclusion question previously presented to and discussed by the Select Board. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Roll call vote: Ms. Bent and Mr. Houston voted in the affirmative. Mr. Boshart recused himself. Approved unanimously
Yes: Bent, HoustonThe minutes say Harvey Boshart stepped aside (recused), so that member is not shown as voting.
From the minutes
“MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to authorize the Select Board Chair to work with Town Counsel to pursue a court order on behalf of the Town affirming the validity of a Town Election to be held on a date to be determined in September 2020 and the ballot to be prepared for such election, which shall include the elections for various Town offices and the debt exclusion question previously presented to and discussed by the Select Board. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Roll call vote: Ms. Bent and Mr. Houston voted in the affirmative. Mr. Boshart recused himself. Approved unanimously.” (Motion: Houston, second: Bent)
Feb 25Refer the Active Adult Residential Cluster By-law to the…Motion: MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to refer the Active Adult Residential Cluster…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
February 25, 2020: Refer the Active Adult Residential Cluster By-law to the Planning Board for a public hearing
MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to refer the Active Adult Residential Cluster By-law to the Planning Board for a public hearing. 2nd by Mr. Houston. Approved unanimously
The minutes name Christopher Houston as both the mover and the seconder, so no seconder is shown.
From the minutes
“MOTION: Mr. Houston moved to refer the Active Adult Residential Cluster By-law to the Planning Board for a public hearing. 2nd by Mr. Houston. Approved unanimously.” (Motion: Houston)
Feb 11Grant the request of Julie and David Harmon for…Motion: MOTION: Move to grant the request of Julie and David Harmon…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
February 11, 2020: Grant the request of Julie and David Harmon for an exception to the cemetery regulations that would allow them to have their ashes interred in the Scattering Garden at Linwood…
MOTION: Move to grant the request of Julie and David Harmon for an exception to the cemetery regulations that would allow them to have their ashes interred in the Scattering Garden at Linwood Cemetery. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Approved unanimously
The minutes do not say who made this motion.
From the minutes
“MOTION: Move to grant the request of Julie and David Harmon for an exception to the cemetery regulations that would allow them to have their ashes interred in the Scattering Garden at Linwood Cemetery. 2nd by Ms. Bent. Approved unanimously.” (second: Bent)
From the Weston 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): Weston Observer — Al Aydelott, Rebecca Mercuri and Anupam Sachdev (Addison Antonoff, April 2026); Weston Owl — Lise Revers (April 2024) and John McDonald (courtesy photo, January 2025). Cropped by MassVoter. Former members show initials.
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