Grafton Hires Their First Appointed Town Clerk

Town Administrator Evan Brassard has appointed Amy Berry to the position of Grafton Town Clerk. Ms. Berry was introduced at the February 18, 2025 Select Board meeting, where her appointment was affirmed unanimously. Mr. Brassard had previously indicated Ms. Berry was chosen after an extensive candidate search and interview process, which he conducted along with Grafton Finance Director Mary Lauria.

In speaking with the Select Board members, Ms. Berry, who is a resident of Holden, stated she was very excited to start working in Grafton. Her first day of work is scheduled for Monday, March 3rd. Before thanking the Board, Ms. Berry indicated she was hoping to meet and speak with all the Board members.

Ms. Berry comes to Grafton after having been the Deputy Town Clerk in Southborough, MA for approximately six years. She will be taking over for the former Grafton Town Clerk Kandy Lavallee, who resigned on December 20, 2024. Grafton Assistant Town Clerk Mike Jennette had been serving as the interim Clerk prior to Berry's appointment. He will be returning to the Assistant Clerk spot.

The switch from an elected Clerk to an appointed Clerk in Grafton has taken an interesting path. At the October Town Meeting in 2021, a majority vote was taken to start the process to move the elected Clerk to an appointed position. By December, it was clear a mistake had been made. The vote in October required a two thirds vote, not a majority. Fast forward to 2023 where this same appointed versus elected situation was revisited. Grafton residents passed a seperate article at the Spring Town Meeting. This time around, the process involved requiring the Massachusetts General Court to approve a home rule petition. For various reasons, even this strategy was delayed until the beginning of January of 2025, when the engrossed legislation was signed by the Governor and made law.