Concord Select Board Elects Rovelli Chair, McKennitt Clerk in 3-2 Vote

CONCORD — May 18, 2026 — Concord Select Board reorganizes, elects Rovelli chair and McKennitt clerk in split vote. The board unanimously elevated Wendy Rovelli to chair for fiscal year 2027 at its May 18 meeting, then split 3-2 to elect Cameron McKennitt as clerk over fellow member Paul Boehm, with Mary Hartman and Paul Boehm in opposition. Hartman said she had not seen consistent respect for collective board positions, telling McKennitt, "I felt like it was disrespectful to the opinions of the other members of the board." The board also ratified a $16,020,000 general obligation bond sale to Oppenheimer and Company Incorporated at a price of $17,652,391.52, with a roughly $1.8 million premium reducing the true interest cost to approximately 3 percent and net repayment to $16.02 million — covering the first tranche of the town's $27.5 million road program and the final tranche of the middle school project. The board unanimously endorsed Fire Chief Brian Whitney's application for an advanced life support ambulance upgrade, backed by a $996,000 FEMA grant, with ALS service delivery now targeted for September. The board dissolved the Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force and began deliberations on whether to pursue a 41C-and-a-half senior tax exemption to eventually replace the existing residential tax exemption, with members agreeing no change is possible before the November FY27 tax rate hearing.