Select Board Takes No Position on Warrant Article Stripping Finance Board Interview Authority

STONEHAM — October 7, 2025 — Stoneham Select Board votes unanimously to take no action on a warrant article targeting Finance Board appointment authority. Town Moderator Jean Craig appeared before the board Tuesday to explain Warrant Article 12, which would remove a provision in the town code allowing the Finance and Advisory Board to conduct public interviews of its own membership candidates, restoring sole appointment authority to the moderator. Craig said five of 16 applicants for three open Finance and Advisory Board seats withdrew from consideration rather than face a public interview process, and described a contentious Finance and Advisory Board meeting the previous night — which ran until nearly 11 p.m. and ended in a seven-to-three vote advancing the article — as an attempt to "usurp my authority." Board member Rami Hemandez cited the Select Board's longstanding precedent of not taking positions on warrant articles proposed by other elected officials, and the board voted unanimously to take no action. Craig announced she does not intend to seek another term as moderator and warned that she and town counsel Robert Galvin will contest any floor amendment at Town Meeting.