Town Council Elects New Officers, Receives Final Charter Review

Report on the Special Meeting of the Amherst Town Council, January 5, 2026

This was a hybrid meeting held in Town Hall and was not recorded.

Present
Lynn Griesemer (Outgoing President, District 2), Andy Churchill, Mandi Jo Hanneke, and Ellisha Walker (at large), Jill Brevik and Cathy Schoen (District 1), Amber Cano Martin (District 2), George Ryan and Hala Lord (District 3), Jennifer Taub and Pam Rooney (District 4), and Ana Devlin Gauthier and Sam McLeod (District 5). 

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (Council Clerk)

Election of Officers
The first and main order of business was the election of officers.

Council President
Mandi Jo Hanneke was elected President and Elisha Walker Vice President.

Ana Devlin Gauthier nominated Mandi Jo Hanneke and Hanneke accepted the nomination. The nominee was then given the opportunity to make a statement.

“Experience matters,” Hanneke said. She focused on her experience on the council: “I know what it takes to be President.” Hanneke has served as Vice-President, chaired and served on several council committees, and mentored colleagues. If elected, she said, she would encourage fellow councilors to flourish and take leadership roles. She said she was ready to govern and to provide inclusive leadership.

Two returning councilors spoke in support of Hanneke’s candidacy, Devlin Gauthier and Cathy Schoen. Devlin Gauthier praised her prowess in process and procedures and her ability to work with everyone, doing “deep work with many councilors.” She said that, as President, Hanneke would not play a “policy-based role [but] a logistics role.”

Schoen commended Hanneke for “looking ahead and seeing how all the pieces fit” and keeping “so many pieces in motion.” She said that Hanneke “comes prepared,” that she looks “beyond the borders of the town to the state level,” and “is quick and collaborative.”

Councilor Hala Lord then nominated Ellisha Walker for the position of President. Walker accepted the nomination and made her statement.

Walker began by recognizing and thanking outgoing President Lynn Griesemer, who she said “has done a phenomenal job.” She went on to say that the role of the “president under me would be different,” defined by “power-sharing, inclusion, and collaboration.” She said that she would work “more closely with the VP as a true partner.” Because Walker will be completing a Master’s degree in Public Policy at UMass in the Spring with a focus on senior municipal leadership, she said that the position would align closely with her own professional goals. Addressing her availability for the work of President, Walker noted that she would have a low course load and a flexible schedule. But she went on to say that she would model a collaborative form of leadership that would share the workload and encourage more residents to run for council and serve on committees.

In her statement of support, Lord noted that Walker had received the largest number of votes among the at-large candidates. She said that she “has juggled a lot” and has a “capacity for leadership under real-world conditions.” As someone who grew up in Amherst, has children in the school system, and is both an alumna and current student of UMass, she offered “grounded, accessible, committed leadership deeply rooted in community.”

Two incoming councilors also spoke in support of Walker’s candidacy. Amber Cano Martin cited Walker’s extensive experience in town government, having served two terms on the council, chaired the Community Safety Working Group, and served on the finance committee. She noted that the role was a perfect fit for her professional training, in which capacity she had a lot of experience in running meetings. She would “ensure that everyone’s voice is included.” Although the job is time-consuming, Cano-Martin was confident that, through power-sharing, “she will make it work for her so as to involve the leadership of other working people.”

Jill Brevik stressed Walker’s experience and her community focus. She noted her service on the elementary school building committee, but also her attention to a “bigger picture.” Beyond town government, Brevik cited Walker’s  “professional leadership and facilitation,” her work in the UMass Provost’s office and on a non-profit BIPOC board. She noted that Walker was “widely liked and trusted in the community” and that, as President, would “encourage greater engagement in local government [and] make people feel heard.”

The council then proceeded directly to the vote. Mandi Jo Hanneke was elected President by 7-6.
Voting for Hanneke: Schoen, Hanneke, Griesemer, Devlin Gauthier, Sam MacLeod, Andy Churchill, and George Ryan.

Voting for Walker: Lord, Walker, Brevik, Cano-Martin, Jennifer Taub, and Pam Rooney.

Proceeding to the election for Vice-President, Pam Rooney nominated Walker and Devlin Gauthier seconded. Walker accepted the nomination, saying that she would be “equally happy to serve alongside Councilor Hanneke to help make the council more accessible.” She was elected unanimously.

After the swearing-in of the new officers, Hanneke began her chairing of the meeting with a thank you to Lynn Griesemer, who had served as president since the inception of the council: “You had to figure it all out on your own,” she said.

She announced the upcoming Four Towns Meeting on January `10 and the next Town Council Meeting on January 12, 2026.

Charter Review Committee: Final Report Presentation
Four members of the Charter Review Committee (CRC), Julian Hynes (Chair), Erica Mijlin (Vice-Chair) Meg Gage, and Marcus Smith presented an overview of the committee’s final report and took questions from councilors. (The full report can be found here.)

Hynes noted that the council would have 90 days to vote on the recommendations, some of which could be passed by majority vote, others, involving a new form of government, would require a new commission and a townwide vote, while still others might require action at the state level.

Specific Recommendations of the Charter Review Committee
After a quick review of the committees charge and process (Section 1), Hynes presented Section 2, an overview of 22 specific recommendations to amend particular language and provisions in the current charter, the last four of which had been added after the final public hearing on December 16, 2025. He encouraged councilors and the public to read the full report, including Section 3, which presented the recommendations in detail.

Councilors asked brief clarifying questions with the understanding that there would be opportunity for in-depth discussion of each recommendation in future meetings, when members of the CRC would continue to be available to answer questions.

Cathy Schoen asked whether, in addition to recommending term limits for council leadership, they had considered limits for regular councilors.  And on the recommendation that postponing a council vote should require the support of at least three councilors (where it can now takes only one), Schoen asked whether the committee had considered two votes rather than three.  Hynes replied that the CRC’s vote for three had been unanimous.

Devlin Gauthier asked about the committee’s discussion with regard to the recommendation that, in hybrid or remote meetings, the number of members of the public present should be announced and those speaking should have the ability to be visible. Hynes said that people speaking remotely should have the choice whether or not they wanted to be visible. He also said that the committee had discussed potential problems such as Zoom-bombing.

Several councilors asked questions about the decision-making process going forward. Rooney asked, “How do we tackle the recommendations?” Hanneke replied that she would prepare a memo with a proposed process for the next meeting. 

Cano-Martin asked about the recommendations that didn’t get approved, why not, and by how many votes. She also asked whether the council would be able to consider recommendations that had not been adopted by the committee. Hynes did not know the answer to that question. Brevik asked whether Hynes thought “it would be better to get feedback more often than waiting another 10 years.”

Sam McLeod asked whether the committee had ranked their recommendations, to which Hynes replied that they had not.

Incoming councilor Andy Churchill, who had served on the review committee, encouraged councilors to read Section 5 of the report, “Notes on Process—Considerations  for the Next Charter Review.”

Taub wondered whether the council would discuss the recommendations together or whether they would form a separate committee. She asked Hanneke whether councilors could send her process suggestions for inclusion in her memo.

Review committee Vice-Chair and Chair of the Outreach Committee Erica Mijlin explained the committee’s approach to public outreach, engagement, and input and presented Section 4, “Beyond the Charter, Improving Amherst Government.” This section presented structural changes and public engagement issues that had been raised both by committee members and by the public that were broader than specific provisions of the current charter and that deemed to be beyond the scope of the committee,

Mijlin also reviewed Section 5, Notes on Process, which recommended changes in process to consider for the next charter review, including the timeline, the budget, and considerations of the committee’s challenges and successes.

Noting that Boston had an office of participatory budgeting, Cano-Martin asked whether this had been a recommendation for the town. Hynes replied that it had been a split vote due to anticipated legal challenges. The consultant hired from the Collins Center for Public Management had said that adopting participatory budgeting would require a special legislative act. Hynes said that he personally would have preferred it to be included in the recommendations. Hynes also said that the committee intended that the broader recommendations in Section  4, “Beyond the Charter,” should be given the same weight as the specific recommendations in Sections 2 and 3.

Committee and Liaison Appointment Process
The final business of the meeting wa top introduce councilors to the various council committees (including their scope, current chair or current council representative, number of members, annual timeline, current and upcoming business) and review those multi-member bodies appointed by the Town Manger that have town council liaisons, all in preparation for upcoming committee appointments.  Some of that information is listed below.

Community Resources Committee (Pam Rooney Chair, 5 members)
Finance Committee (Cathy Schoen Chair, 5 members)
Governance, Organization, and Legislation Committee (Ana Devlin Gauthier Chair, 5 members)
Town Services and Outreach Committee (George Ryan Chair, 5 members)
Transportation and Parking Commission (9 members including 2 town councilors and 3 resident members)
Jones Library Building Committee (1 councilor— George Ryan).
Budget Coordinating Group, Advisory to the Town Manager (Lynn Griesemer, 3 councilors total)
Joint Capital Planning Committee, Advisory to the Town Manager. (Cathy Schoen, 3 councilors total)
Representatives to Speak on Behalf of the Town Council at Four Towns Meetings (Lynn Griesemer, 2 councilors)

Hanneke explained the selection process for appointments to council committees and for liaisons. Councilors rank their preferences for committee service. The first four committees are appointed by the president, others are appointed by the full council or sent as recommendations to the Town Manager. She asked councilors to submit their preferences by Thursday, January 8 at 5 pm.

The only remaining action item was for each councilor to indicate how they wished to be addressed, following which Hanneke called councilors’ attention to the Town Council meeting calendar, and future agenda items. She said that the January 12 agenda would include the plan for acting on the Charter Review Committee recommendations, the amended charge for the draft bylaw review committee, the Heatherstone roundabouts, and committee appointments. Town manager Paul Bockelman sad that he would have his detailed Town Manager  report ready for that meeting. Cano-Martin asked Bockelman to include information on when and how CRESS (Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service) would begin to receive calls from the police dispatcher.

In councilor comments, Rooney asked how the rental registration plan was developing and how many nuisance properties had been named since it was enacted. Schoen asked for a report on the residential inspection program. Rooney reminded Hanneke that councilors needed to receive all information for upcoming meetings by Friday of the previous week. Lord noted, with reference to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations around the country, “Many of our residents are terrified.” She said that she was standing with them.