Town Manager Appoints Seven to Cherry Hill Working Group

Town Manager Paul Bockelman has named seven residents to the Cherry Hill Working Group. The appointments were effective in October of 2025 but the group met for the first time on December 10, 2025.

According to the working group’s web page:

The purpose of the Cherry Hill Working Group (CHWG) is to provide advice and recommendations about the long-term viability of golf operations at Cherry Hill Golf Course, innovative strategies for course management and fiscal sustainability, and alternative/compatible uses of the property. The goal is to determine if golf operations can and should continue to be provided by the Town and to determine if these golf operations can be and should be self-supporting. The committee will develop a final report which will include in-depth analysis and robust recommendations for various topics including: 

1. Land Acquisition and Legal Constraints
2. Purpose and Mission
3. Finances and Operations Review
4. Recreation Role and Community Benefit
5. Five-Year Financial Plan
6. Evaluation of Alternative Uses and Disposition
   

View the Cherry Hill Working Group charge here.

The members of the Working Group are :

• Sanjay Arwade, is the Recreation Commission representative and was selected by the Recreation Commission.
  
• Ryan Diplock, resident member, grew up in North Amherst near the golf course, has a business background and education, is a golf enthusiast with numerous ideas about the future of golf, and has golfed at over 100 courses in the state.
  
• Sarah Goff, resident member, is a public health professor at UMass with a strong interest in a broad range of activities – not just golf – for Cherry Hill. Her children are Nordic skiers and play disc golf, and she is a runner who appreciates open space and its relationship to people’s health.
  
• Hilary Matheson, resident member, is an active golfer, pickleball player, and walker. She serves as Tournament Director at Amherst Golf Club and Ladies Golf Captain at a country club in Wales. She currently volunteers at the Senior Center and with English as a Second Language program.
  
• Michele Miller, resident member, is a  former member of the Town Council representing District 1, She is a nearby resident and a golfer  who has children on the Amherst Regional High School golf team.
  
• Chris Pariseau, Recreation Commission representative was selected by the Recreation Commission
  
• Anurag Sharma, resident member,  is a professor at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass who thought his graduate students would be interested in this project.
  

Miller was elected to chair the Working Group and Pariseau was elected as vice chair. Recreation Manager Ray Harp and Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek will serve as staff liaisons.