Meetings Ahead
Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join.
Thursday, May 30
- Open Space Committee, 2 p.m.
Monday, June 3
- Conservation Commission, 5 p.m., hybrid
Tuesday, June 4
- Board of Health, 4:30 p.m., hybrid
Wednesday, June 5
- Planning Board, 5 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Medoff and Girard-Irwin Elected to Select Board
Nancy Medoff and Susan Girard-Irwin were elected to the select board at the May 29 town election, which drew 950 voters. According to unofficial results released late that night, Medoff received 543 votes and Girard-Irwin got 535 votes.
Kevin Grunwald came in third with 340 votes; Tim Hickey finished last with 316.
Medoff and Girard-Irwin will replace outgoing chair Kristen Reed and clerk John Dundas, neither of whom sought reelection.
Medoff, chair of the charter review committee and a member of the zoning board of appeals, ran on a platform of unity in Truro. At candidates night, she called for a master plan that would consolidate a vision for the town’s future.
Girard-Irwin, vice chair of the council on aging board, ran a campaign dedicated to balancing housing and water concerns and bolstering intergenerational interaction.
Grunwald, chair of the housing authority, had hoped for more housing and year-round viability in Truro. Hickey, vice chair of the concert committee, wanted lower taxes and more government transparency.
Vida Richter was reelected to the school committee with 612 votes. Ken Oxtoby and Amy Smith Costa were elected to the committee by write-in votes, receiving 169 and 168 respectively.
The one question on the ballot — a charter amendment requiring that library trustees be consulted in the hiring of a new library director — passed resoundingly: 793 voters supported it; 117 were opposed; 40 left it blank.
In uncontested elections, Keith Althaus and Kaitlin Blehm were reelected as library trustees; Robert Masson will serve again on the cemetery commission; and Anne Greenbaum was reelected to the planning board.
A New Walsh Committee
The town is seeking applicants for the Ad Hoc Walsh Property Advisory Committee. Applications are due June 5, and appointments will likely happen at the select board’s June 11 meeting, said Town Manager Darrin Tangeman.
The committee, approved at the May 4 special town meeting, replaces the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee, which held its last meeting in October.
This committee will have a more targeted role than its predecessor: to work with the town’s housing authority on Truro’s housing production plan, which is revised every few years, and make recommendations for future housing production levels for the second phase of the property’s development.
Two members will be part of the request for proposals evaluation committee, working with Tangeman, who is also the town’s chief procurement officer, to review possible developers.
The committee, with five full members and one alternate, will also be smaller than the Walsh committee that came before it.
“The 16-person committee was incredibly difficult to manage,” Tangeman told the Independent. “It was hard to build consensus.”
The new committee marks a step forward in terms of Walsh property development, he said. “It’s about the implementation process now.”
The application is available on the town website. —Sophie Mann-Shafir
