Shifting from ballots to boards: Selectmen-elect prepare for biennial appointment season

Every two years, the incoming newly-elected Board of Selectmen undertakes one of its most important responsibilities: appointing residents to the Town’s standing boards and commissions. These appointed bodies — from Inland Wetlands to Human Services, Conservation, TPZ, and more — carry much of the day-to-day work of local governance. They shape land-use decisions, oversee essential services, review budgets, steward public spaces, and ensure state laws and local ordinances are carried out.

The Town’s Charter and locally adopted ordinances together form the official Code, which defines all standing boards and commissions (available on the Town website’s eCode360 link). Chapter 75, Municipal Agencies, prescribes how each board or commission is established, the terms and eligibility of appointees, how vacancies are filled, the rules governing meetings and reporting, as well as a complete catalogue of these standing bodies.

The timing and structure of appointments is detailed under § 75-5 (Membership and terms of office), which states that members of all boards and commissions “shall be appointed by the Board of Selectmen biennially as of the first day of January” and terms must be staggered so that “not more than one-half nor a bare majority shall expire in any one year.” All terms are four years, and members continue to serve “until their successors are appointed and take office.” This biennial cycle is the framework that governs the upcoming December appointment process.

In addition to appointments to standing boards and commissions, the Town website also lists several ad hoc committees, the creation of which is authorized by vote of the Board of Selectmen; these bodies are then populated by appointment of the First Selectman, rather than through a vote of the full Board. Action regarding membership on these ad hoc committees is expected to take place at a later date.

Appointments by the Selectmen-elect

Under § 7-12 of the Town Charter, the authority to make appointments for terms that begin after a new Board of Selectmen takes office rests not with the outgoing Board but with the First Selectman-elect and the Selectmen-elect. The Charter states that the sitting Board “may not appoint any person to any office the term of which commences after the regular term of such Board…terminates.” Instead, the incoming First Selectman and Selectmen gain the power to make those appointments as of the date they are elected, even before they are sworn in. The Selectmen-elect may therefore meet in December — prior to taking office on January 1 — to make all appointments to boards and commissions whose new four-year terms begin on January 1. This ensures that each newly elected Board has full authority over appointments for the term it will oversee. The date for this meeting has not been announced yet, but will appear on the Town website’s Agenda Center when it is set.

Summary of current board & commission membership

According to an analysis of information published on the town website and current voter registration records, across Woodbridge’s 20 standing appointed boards and commissions, 103 seats are currently filled. Of those:

• 61 are held by Democrats
• 27 are held by Republicans
• 15 are held by Unaffiliated voters

This composition represents a strong Democratic majority across appointed bodies, with Unaffiliated members — rather than Republicans — filling many seats counted toward the state’s minority-party representation requirements, in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes § 9-167a.

There are also 11 current vacancies, including notable openings on the Government Access Television Commission (4 seats), Sperry Park Committee (3 seats), and one seat each on the Conservation Commission, Economic Development Commission, Investment Committee, and Library Commission.

Filling these vacancies along with the seats whose terms expire at the end of this calendar year (roughly half of the seats on each appointed body) will give the incoming Board of Selectmen an unusually large number of decisions to make during the December appointments meeting of the Selectmen-elect, when up to 60 appointments may be made. This meeting will also likely signal the tone and priorities of the new Board and its approach to governing, as these appointments will shape the functioning of Woodbridge’s volunteer boards and commissions for the next two years.