Amber Martin is Amherst’s New Town Clerk

Amber Martin has been named Amherst’s new Town Clerk. The appointment was approved unanimously by the Town Council on July 21.

Martin has worked for the Town of Amherst since 2019. She began in the Town Clerk’s office as a Management Assistant and was promoted to Assistant Town Clerk in 2021. As Assistant Town Clerk, Martin learned the responsibilities of the Town Clerk’s office including maintaining accurate records, overseeing elections and census, posting public meetings, processing various licenses, and responding to public records requests. Since the retirement of Sue Audette on June 6, Martin has been serving as Temporary Town Clerk. 

Martin was at the center of a controversy in 2021when as Assistant Town Clerk she disqualified one in five signatures on the town’s first and only voter veto petition. Those disqualifications caused the petition to fail. The petition drive was aimed at overturning a Town Council decision to borrow $36.3 million for the Jones Library expansion project and was conducted under the town charter’s voter veto provision (Section. 8.4 ). Town Clerk Sue Audette was on vacation at the time and charged Martin with certifying the petition. Martin had disqualified signatures for such “violations” as including a zip code or abbreviating designations like Street (ST.) or Lane (LN). Forty signatories of the petition filed a voting rights law suit in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court seeking to overturn the disqualifications and seeking a judgement against the town for civil rights violations. That suit was eventually dismissed when the town agreed to hold a non-binding referendum on the Jones borrowing. That referendum ended up supporting the borrowing 64% to 36% with 28% of registered voters participating.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said, “We are very fortunate to have someone of Amber’s experience and direct knowledge of the Town Clerk’s office stepping into this important role. Amber will continue to meet the high standards set by her predecessors and will bring state-of-the-art innovations to the Clerk’s office.” 

Last week Martin officially graduated from the New England Municipal Clerks Institute which is an intensive three-year program focused on training and educating municipal Clerks to effectively perform their duties and responsibilities, stay current with evolving legal and procedural requirements, and enhance professional and leadership skills.  

Additionally, she recently achieved the Certified Municipal Clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks and is working toward the Certified Massachusetts Municipal Clerk and Master Municipal Clerk designations. She is a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, and Commissioner to Qualify – a designation appointed by the Governor to administer the oath of office to public officers required by the Constitution. Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from American International College. 

Martin shared: “I’m honored to be appointed Town Clerk and look forward to serving the Amherst community with dedication and transparency. My experience as Assistant Town Clerk has given me a strong foundation, and I’m committed to building on that to ensure the office continues to run efficiently and responsively.” 

Looking ahead, Martin’s focus will include working to enfranchise the Town’s large and transitory student residents; expand outreach to members of the public who typically don’t participate in elections; develop better customer service standards, especially the offering of  services in multiple languages; and implement more technology and online services in the Town Clerk’s office. 

Bockelman thanked members of the Town Clerk Search Committee for reviewing applications and conducting interviews. The Search Committee reviewed 27 applications and invited three candidates to participate in interviews. The Search Committee was comprised of: 

• Tamson Ely, member of the Personnel Board and member of the Library Board of Trustees;  
• Jacqueline Gardner, member of the Board of Registrars;  
• Bill Glover, Infrastructure Manager in the Town’s I.T. Department;  
• Athena O’Keeffe, Clerk of the Town Council and Strategic Planning & Legislative Affairs Officer;  
• Nancy Talbot, Town Clerk for the Town of Ware, and President of the New England Association of Town Clerks; and  
• Melissa Loiodice-Walker, Human Resources Director.  

A swearing-in ceremony will be scheduled for a later date, with details to be announced in the coming weeks on the Town’s website: www.amherstma.gov.