Rob Morra Re-appointed Temporary Planning Director. New Appointments to Commission for Persons with Disabilities, CPA Committee, and Public Art Commission

Planning Director
In a memo to the Town Council dated September 5, 2025, Town Manager Paul Bockelman requested an extension of Rob Morra’s appointment as Temporary Planning Director until December 1, 2025. Morra’s temporary appointment was set to expire on September 15, 2025. The extension was approved on the consent agenda of the Town Council at their meeting on September 8, 2025.

Morra is currently filling in for Christine Brestrup who retired as planning director on September 27, 2024. Bockelman reported that he has reviewed applications and interviewed candidates for the position of Planning Director and that he anticipates bringing a recommendation to the Town Council in early October.

Commission and Committee Appointments
In memos to the Town Council and the Town Clerk dated September 4, 2025 and September 5, 2025, Town Manager Paul Bockelman recommended appointments to the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Community Preservation Act Committee and the Public Art Commission. These appointments were approved on the consent agenda of the Town Council at their meeting on September 8, 2025.

Commission for Persons with Disabilities
Appointed for a three-Year term expiring June 30, 2028
Reginald Andrade of North Pleasant Street

Community Preservation Act Committee
Appointed for a three-year term expiring June 30, 2028
Ellen Keiter of Linden Ridge Road

Public Art Commission
Appointed for a three-year term expiring June 30, 2028:
David Feinstein of Henry Street

Appointed for a two-year term expiring June 30, 2027
Terry Rooney of Teaberry Lane

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

Commission for Persons with Disabilities
Reginald Adrade has served for 20 years as access coordinator for the Disability Service Office at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Eighteen years ago, he served as a member of the town’s Disability Access Advisory Committee. Mr. Andrade stated that he has had a visual disability for most of his life. He stated he has seen improvement in the accessibility of the town and would like to continue to focus on ensuring all parts of the town are accessible.

Community Preservation Act Committee
Ellen Keiter: became familiar with the Community Preservation Act Committee as an advocate for the Amherst Dog Park Task Force in 2018. Since then, she has followed the distribution of CPA funds each year. Keiter has spent her entire professional career working in the non-profit sector and she understands the importance of grant funds and has extensive experience in seeking and being awarded grants. She retired recently as Chief Curator at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. She is an historian, avid hiker and cyclist, and is supportive of efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing in town. She currently serves on the Public Shade Tree Committee and served previously on the Public Art Commission and Dog Park Task Force.

Public Art Commission
David Feinstein brings a wide range of experience to his service on the commission. He is a professional educator at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art where he designs and leads public programs for inter-generational audiences including educators, librarians, and caregivers. He implements grant-funded projects which build relations with early childhood community partners across the region. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and taught in workshops for individuals on probation alongside their probation officers and judges. He is also a parent of a first-grader at the Fort River Elementary School and is eager to participate in the Commission’s Percent for Art work for the new school.

Terry Rooney has been an artist for almost 50 years and a curator of arts for 40 years. She received her training at the Fashion Institute of Technology and SUNY Empire College where she apprenticed with several well-known artists. She previously served on the Public Art Commission from 2004 – _2013 where she produced several large events in the town including lighting the tobacco barn at the Swartz Family Farm for Amherst’s 250th anniversary and installing the first piece of contemporary art in Kendrick Park.