By Adam Swift
Town Council Vice President Hannah Belcher will continue in that role for 2025.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council voted for Belcher to serve another year as vice president. Belcher abstained from the vote, and councilors John DaRos and Joseph Aiello were absent.
“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” said Belcher. “The role of vice president is an interesting one and I’ve enjoyed being a point of contact for the council and I look forward to serving … in the next year. To the council president, I am willing to do whatever you need me to do to make your job easier.”
Precinct 4 Councilor Suzanne Swope asked about the defined duties of the vice president.
Council President Jim Letterie said the main duty defined in the charter is to fill in for the council president if the president is not available.
However, both Belcher and Letterie said Belcher fills a role as an additional point of contact for the town council and as someone who is in contact on a regular basis with the president.
“She does a tremendous amount, she works extremely hard,” said Letterie. “The main responsibility in the charter is to be able to step in. We have had one circumstance over the last 20 years where that did happen, where a vice president ended up stepping in and became president. But, in years past, we have had vice presidents who have worked closely and got involved on more topics and we do talk relatively frequently, so it is a help, it’s a very big job.”
Councilor-at-Large Rob DeMarco spoke in favor of the nomination and praised Belcher’s character.
“We’ve disagreed a lot, I know I’ve pushed your buttons a lot, but I appreciate you still being there for me no matter what,” DeMarco said. “We really are a team on the council and we butt heads a lot, but we are a team at the end of the day. I just want to say, Hannah, thank you just for being you and you have my vote 100 percent.”