Town Manager Reappoints 19 Residents to Town Boards, Committees, and Commissions

Town Manager Paul Bockelman recommended to the Town Council on May 13, 2025 the reappointment of 19 Amherst residents to 11 town boards, commissions, and committees. The Town Council approved all of the recommendations, which appeared on its consent agenda, at its May 19, 2025 meeting. 

Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board of Trustees: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Gastón de los Reyes of Canton Avenue 

Board of Health: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Premila Nair of High Street 

CDBG Advisory Committee: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028 

Zoy Soulis of North East Street 

Cultural Council: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028 

Julianne Applegate of Market Hill Road
Cody Rooney of East Pleasant Street 

Council on Aging: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Jeanne Horrigan of Applewood Lane 

Dennis Vandal of Columbia Drive 

Energy and Climate Action Committee: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Toni McElrath of Nutting Avenue 

Human Rights Commission: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Rani Parker, of North Prospect Street 

Munson Memorial Building Trustees: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Jenny Arch of Dennis Drive 

Public Art Commission: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Terry Holt, of Middle Street 

Thomas Warger, of Alpine Drive 

Public Shade Tree Committee: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028)

Britt Crow-Miller, of Woodside Avenue 

Bennet Hazlip, of Thayer Street 

Julian Hynes, of Pine Grove 

Registrar of Voters: 

Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Stephen George of Dana Street 

Water Supply Protection Committee:
Three-year term (reappointment): expires June 30, 2028

Anna Martini, of Country Corners Road (has served since 2019) 

John Tobiason, of Potwine Lane ( has served since 2007) 

Lyons Witten, of Pulpit Hill Road (has served since 2007) 

Biographical Profiles
The Town Manager provided the following biographical profiles for the appointees. 

Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board of Trustees: 

• Gastón de los Reyes is a member of the Board of License Commissioners. He is a professor and teaches international business and strategy with particular interest in questions of governance, ethics, and sustainability. He is an attorney representing Latin American companies on financial issues. He has also owned multi-family housing such as partial ownership of 16 affordable housing units in Oregon. Mr. de los Reyes was appointed for his first term in 2023. 

Board of Health: 

• Premila Nair is a nurse practitioner who has been working at Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the Springfield Southwest Community Health Center for nearly 20 years. She has also worked at other community health centers and served as a refugee resettlement case manager for refugees from Indonesia, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, and Costa Rica. She brings strong skills in language, speaking English, Spanish, and Malay. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst. She has experience and knowledge of many key public health issues including COVID-19, EEE, and other vector-borne diseases. She was drawn by the attention the town is dedicating to the role that systemic and unconscious racism plays in public health and hopes to contribute to that conversation. 

CDBG Advisory Committee: 

• Zoy Soulis has worked in public sector social service agencies for many years. She brings expertise in working with low-income families, food insecurity, child protective work, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Soulis has skills in contract management and program evaluation and has served on numerous advisory boards. She is trilingual, and she notes that her family has benefited greatly from the Amherst Public School system. 

Cultural Council: 

• Julianne Applegate is a lifelong design professional. At the end of her first term on the Cultural Council she shared her organizational skills by serving as the Chair. Applegate has streamlined the grant cycle by moving everything online. She welcomes her fellow committee members to cultivate inspiring experiences in Amherst that draw the community into conversation and collaboration.  

• Cody Rooney is eager to serve on the Cultural Council to bring his perspective as a member of the Native American community. He feels his participation would also bring voice to other cultures. He is a member of the student senate at Holyoke Community College and has experience working with younger members of the community 

Council on Aging: 

• Jeanne Horrigan has recently served as the Chair of the Council on Aging as part of her first term. She brings a wide breadth of experience to the Council, which includes working with diverse populations through her professional and volunteer work. She has served on the Newman Center Advisory Board, the ABC House Board, the UMass Alumni Board, and various school groups mostly in connection with the Fort River Elementary School. Her experience as an advocate for her father has given her personal knowledge of the challenges of aging and caring for our elders. 
  
• Dennis Vandal is a photojournalist who has offered his services to the town and the Senior Center for several years. He is now interested in becoming more engaged by serving on the Council on Aging. He brings valuable relationships as a member of the SALT (Seniors and Law Enforcement Together) Council and as an officer of the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center. 

Energy and Climate Action Committee: 

• Toni McElrath is a Ph. D candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His concentration includes ecological traumas, and he brings a strong passion for social and environmental justice. His goal is to build better spaces and environments for underserved and underrepresented parts of the community. He speaks four languages and has strong organizing skills. 

Human Rights Commission: 

• Rani Parker has served on the Human Rights Commission since 2022. In addition to this position, she has been an active member of the Liberatory Visioning Team that worked with the town’s DEI department and Dr. Barbara Love. Parker has worked extensively on women’s rights in various international contexts. As a graduate student, human rights were one of her core areas of study. She has trained with a local police department in Maryland to better understand the perspective police bring to their work. She has a special interest in the intersection of rights of residents and the actions of police officers. She brings language diversity to the commission, speaking English, French, and Tamil. 

Munson Memorial Building Trustees: 

• Jenny Archis a librarian and has worked in public libraries for the past ten years. She is currently an elementary school librarian and is the co-director of the Western Massachusetts Area for the Massachusetts School Library Association. A graduate of Hampshire College, Arch returned to the town in 2020 and immediately became a regular at the Munson Memorial library and an admirer of its architecture and grounds. 

Public Shade Tree Committee: 

• Britt Crow-Miller has significant experience and expertise on environmental issues and on the human-environment connection and interaction. She is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Conservation at the University and also directs the graduate program in Sustainability Science. She and her family are avid users of the town’s public lands and directs an environmental education non-profit. She is passionate about community engagement with the goal of moving toward greater environmental justice and equity.
  
• Bennett Hazlip is pleased to live in a community that values the environment and shade trees in particular. He believes trees are one of the most important investments a town can make and would like to play a role in shaping the future of Amherst’s trees, especially as we address the challenges of climate change. He has no formal training but has a long history of planting and caring for trees on his property and, with their permission, on his neighbors’ properties. He is skilled at communications and would bring that as an added skill to his enthusiasm.
  
• Julian Hynes is committed to finding sustainable solutions to address climate change and environmental justice in the town. He runs a small landscaping business, a remarkable achievement for a young person, and has attended many meetings to comment on public issues and is a regular attendee at meetings of the Public Shade Tree Committee and their Saturday plantings. He is eager to get involved in Town politics as a sitting member of a committee, in addition to his role as an interested observer. 

Registrar of Voters: 

• Stephen George is a former member of the Board of Health. He has worked as an elections worker, election inspector, election clerk, and most recently as election warden. He has discussed the position with the Town Clerk and would like to support the town electoral system, ensuring fair, open, and free elections for all town voters. 

Water Supply Protection Committee:

• Anna Martini teaches Geology and Environmental Studies at Amherst College. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in Geology. She has previous experience with local governments around issues of water quality and supply.
  
• John Tobiason: teaches Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts. He holds a master’s degree and PhD in Environmental Engineering. He is a nationally known expert in drinking water systems, especially treatment processes and is a registered Professional Engineer and a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists.
  
• Lyons Witten has over thirty-four years of professional experience in groundwater and hazardous waste-related consulting projects and holds a master’s degree in Hydrogeology. His expertise includes hazardous waste site investigations, management of Underground Storage Tank removals, site remediation, and permit filings under numerous state environmental statutes. He has project experience for both public and private clients that involves the interaction of water supply wells and hazardous waste sites.