Newly elected Somerville Select Board Chair Willard Pierpont (left) looks through correspondence with fellow select board member Don Chase. Pierpont was elected by a 2-0 vote Wednesday, Nov. 20. He and Chase will remain the only members of the board until townspeople elect a third select board member in a special election set for Tuesday, Jan. 7. (Molly Rains photo)
After more than a month with a single town office employee and limbo among board leadership, Willard Pierpont was elected chair of the Somerville Select Board and resident Russell Gates assumed the role of town clerk on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Pierpont and Don Chase agreed during a Wednesday, Nov. 20 meeting to elect Pierpont as board chair with a 2-0 vote and minimal discussion.
Pierpont succeeds Don Witmer-Kean, who announced his resignation from the board Sept. 18 citing a change in employment. Though Witmer-Kean was present at the Nov. 20 meeting, he did not participate or vote.
Pierpont was first elected to the Somerville Select Board in June over incumbent and former Chair Christopher Johnson.
New Somerville Town Clerk Russell Gates makes notes during a select board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20 while Treasurer and interim Registrar and Tax Collector Sandra Devaney looks on. Gates’ first day as clerk was Nov. 20, bringing Somerville’s months-long period of having only one town office staffer to a close. (Molly Rains photo)
During the meeting, the board also confirmed they had made a hire for the position of town clerk, which has been unfilled since the resignation of Samantha Peaslee Sept. 18. Gates, of Somerville, assumed the role on Nov. 20. In the interim, Somerville Treasurer Sandra Devaney had filled the position.
Gates is also a member of the RSU 12 Board of Directors and Somerville Budget Committee.
The town of Somerville is still seeking candidates for the open position of tax collector. A new hire would likely not start until the new year, given the more immediate need to train Gates in the role of clerk, Devaney said Nov. 25.
Devaney also confirmed she would stay on in the role of treasurer until June to see the town through the current fiscal year. She had originally announced her planned resignation from the role Sept. 18, but has stayed on in an interim role since then as the town has searched unsuccessfully for a replacement.
“At this point,” she said, “I might as well stick it out.”
For more information, go to somervillemaine.org or call 549-3828.
