Matt Shirland Joins the Board of Selectmen

For those of you who don’t know, Tyler Eaton resigned last week from the Board of Selectmen (BOS).

On Monday, May 1, 2023, the Board of Selectmen had their regularly scheduled meeting.

The first order of business was a discussion regarding the vacancy caused by his resignation.  There was no mention of the reason for his resignation, but my understanding was that it was getting more and more difficult for him to attend due to work-related conflicts.

In the State of NH, state law authorizes the board to appoint a replacement who will serve until the next general election is held in March of 2024.  There are no other real guidelines for how this is to be accomplished, as we found out last year when there was a budget committee vacancy. The committee ignored the will of the people and appointed a candidate that got hardly any votes over a candidate that got many more votes.

Three people came forward to volunteer to join the board:  Matt Shirland, Sandy Vilchock and Donna Danis.

We were hopeful that the BOS would not make the same mistake and instead would appoint Matt Shirland as he was the next candidate on the ballot with the next highest amounts of votes.

Donna Danis and Matt Shirland, who were present in the crowd, were both given an opportunity to present to the audience and state why they wanted to be considered.  The pulse of the room didn’t leave much support for Donna, and many who I spoke with felt she was responsible for many of the issues this current board will have to face in the coming year.

Support for Matt Shirland was, however, overwhelming, and the board, after a brief discussion on whether to publicly announce a call for volunteers, ultimately and unanimously nominated and elected Matt Shirland.

He was immediately sworn in and joined the board.

Congratulations Matt!  We are thrilled you have found your place on the Nottingham BOS.