Town Manager Nominates 12 Residents For Appointments To Boards, Commissions, and Committees

In memos to the Town Clerk and to the Town Services and Outeach Committee (TSO), Town Manager Paul Bockelman nominated 12 people to the following boards, commissions and committees: Board of Health,  Board of Registrars, Human Rights Commission, Recreation Commission, and Transportation Advisory Committee  The nominations were endorsed unanimously by the Town Services and Outreach Committee at their meeting on December 15, and will now be forwarded to the full Town Council for approval with a likely vote at the council’s next meeting on December 19. The individuals nominated were as follows.

Board Of Health
Appointed for a three-year term expiring June 30, 2025:

Premila Nair of High Street

Timothy Randhir and Maureen Millea will continue as members with terms expiring June 30, 2024. Nancy Gilbert and Lauren Mills will continue as members with terms expiring June 30, 2023.

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominee: Premila Nair is a nurse practitioner who has been working at Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the Springfield Southwest Community Health Center for nearly 20 years. She has also worked at other community health centers and served as a refugee resettlement case manager for refugees from Indonesia, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, and Costa Rica. She brings strong skills in language, speaking English, Spanish, and Malay. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst. She has experience and knowledge of many key public health issues including COVID-19, EEE, and other vector-borne diseases. She was drawn by the attention the Town is dedicating to the role that systemic and unconscious racism plays in public health and hopes to contribute to that conversation.

The charge for the Board of Health can be found here.

Board Of Registrars
Nominated for a three-year term expiring June 30, 2022

Stephen George of Dana StreetThe Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominee.

Jaime Wagner will continue as a member with a term that expires on June 30, 2023 and Jacqueline Gardner will continue as a member with a term that expires on June 30, 2024. Town Clerk Sue Audette continues as an ex officio member in her position as Acting Town Clerk.

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominee: Stephen George is a former member of the Board of Health. He has worked as an elections worker, election inspector, election clerk, and most recently as election warden. He has discussed the position with the Town Clerk and would like to support the town electoral system, ensuring fair, open, and free elections for all town voters.

The charge of the Board of Registrars can be found here.

Human Rights Commission
Nominated for a three-year term expiring June 30, 2025

Rani Parker of North Prospect Steet

Nominated for two-year term expiring June 30, 2024

Tylar Matsuo of Barrett Hill Drive

Nominated for a one-year term expiring June 20, 2023

LaVerne Kelly of Greenwich Road

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominees:
Rani Parker: has worked extensively on women’s rights in various international contexts. As a graduate student, human rights was one of her core areas of study. She has trained with a local police department in Maryland to better understand the perspective police bring to their work. She has a special interest in the intersection of rights of residents and the actions of police officers. Ms. Parker brings language diversity to the commission, speaking English, French, and Tamil.

Tylar Matsuo is a rising junior at Amherst College double majoring in Physics and Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought. He is an elected member of the Amherst College Student Judiciary Council. He states that local government is a critical component of policy making and that serving on the Human Rights Commission would allow him to give back to the community and strengthen ties between the town and college students, especially students at Amherst College. He will graduate in May of 2024 and would expect to serve until his graduation. His language skills include English, French, and Japanese.

LaVerne Kelly grew up in Amherst and has worked as a psychotherapist and attorney, serving as a legislative aide in two other states. She serves on the executive board of an organization called Women of Color Health Equity Collective, which is based in Springfield. She is committed to addressing areas of injustice in the community and feels her service on the commission is aligned with her goal of ensuring the rights of all are protected.

The charge of the Human Rights Commission can be found here.

Recreation Commission
Nominated for a three year term expiring June 30, 2025

Sarah Ewell of Blue Hills Road
The Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominee: Sara Ewell is an Amherst native who played sports through the LSSE (now Recreation Department) and at Amherst public schools. She has been a competitive athlete at the college level and, as an adult, is very active in creating opportunities for all members of the community to be active. She is a faculty member and administrator at the Graduate School of Education at Northeastern University. She would like to focus her attention on sports opportunities for middle school children.

The charge of the Recreation Commission can be found here.

Transportation Advisory Committee
Nominated for three-year terms expiring June 30, 2025

Tracy Zafian of Blue Hills Road (reappointment)
Marcus Smith of Rosemary Street (reappointment)

Nominated for two-year terms expiring June 30, 2024

Kim Tremblay of Cosby Avenue (reappointment)
Tate Coleman  of North East Street
Jospeh Fattorusso of. McClellan Street

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profile of the nominees:

Tracy Zafian has been a member of the Committee since 2019. She has been working on public sector transportation topics professionally for the past twenty-five years. She works currently at the Transportation Center at the University of Massachusetts where she works on research projects and shares information on transportation innovations. She is a land use planner and has previous experience working at the Franklin County Council of Governments where she worked on transportation planning initiatives including transportation equity and environmental justice issues. She previously served the Town on the Public Transportation and Bicycle Committee, Parking Commission, and the Transportation and Circulation subcommittee for the Amherst Master Plan.

Marcus Smith has been a member of the committee since 2019. He is an aerospace engineer who has worked on projects associated with the Federal Aviation Administration. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board. His interest is in providing the Town with a transportation infrastructure that is ready and able to serve residents and travelers well into the 21st century.

Kimberly Tremblay has been a member of the Transportation Advisory Committee since 2016. She is a professor of veterninary and animal sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is an avid bicyclist.

Tate Coleman is a graduate student in regional planning and civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He previously chaired the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee in South Berkshire County and worked for the Town of Great Barrington as a finance assistant and as a transit and land use planner. He conducted the Berkshire County Microtransit Planning Study with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.

Joseph Fattorusso: Mr. Fattorusso is part of the History and Law department at Amherst College. He has worked on state and local legislation in New York State and the City of New York. He is interested in quality of life concerns for residents of the Amherst community including concerns about aging, health, housing, transportation, and cultural issues. He is a fast and thorough researcher and has done extensive archival research on various planning topics.

The charge of the transportation advisory committee can be viewed here.