By Sharron Luttrell
As the town clerk’s responsibilities become increasingly complex, the select board may ask voters to convert the office from an elected position to an appointed one.
The sole requirement for the job is to be a registered Mendon voter. Town Administrator Jeremy Stull said opening the position to non-residents would broaden the pool of qualified candidates. Also, he said, the town clerk is an administrative and ministerial role with minimal policy-making responsibility.
“The voters have a say in policy-driven decisions, like the select board, planning board, things like that. That’s one of the tenets of our democratic process, but when we get into administrative positions, being able to appoint a competent individual such as the incumbent I think is a net positive,” Stull said.
Mendon would be joining a statewide trend should it make the change. Of 286 communities, 56% of clerks are elected and 44% are appointed. Those figures are up from 65% and 36% in 2019, according to a 2026 survey by the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association.
Town Clerk Ellen Agro said she generally supports the change. An experienced candidate would start off strong, she said, citing the position’s steep learning curve.
Town clerks must abide by local, state and federal policies, statutes and regulations. Among their responsibilities are to run elections, register voters, create and register vital records, issue licenses and permits, conduct censuses, maintain databases and record town meeting minutes. Then there’s the occasional town hall wedding, like the one Agro officiated Tuesday.
“To be clear, this is an optional responsibility that I love doing,” Agro said in an email.
She noted that a town clerk has to be in the job at least three years before they’re eligible to be certified as a Massachusetts municipal clerk. It also takes that long to learn the ropes, she added.
“It took a full three years for me to experience everything that the town clerk does — home births, different types of elections, primaries, town meetings,” she said. “If it’s appointed, you’re picking from an experienced group and they’ll have that exposure. That’s a benefit in this day and age where election laws are constantly changing and the public is really looking to this office to make sure all our elections are run fairly and securely and with integrity.”
Voters would have to approve the change at both town meeting and at the polls. The last time the town faced a similar question was in 2022 when voters converted the elected office of highway surveyor to an appointed position. An earlier attempt in 2018 failed.
Agro was elected to her first three-year term in 2018. Should her position be converted before her current term expires next year, Agro may confront a roadblock should she seek appointment. A town bylaw requires elected officials to wait one year before taking a job with the town. Stull said town counsel is looking into the issue.
The select board at its March 4 meeting also discussed converting the position of tree warden to an appointed one. Current Tree Warden Ted Steeves met with the board to describe his responsibilities. The board agreed to look further into the change before taking action.
