Above: Town Clerk Jim Hegarty gave notice that he will step down at the end of next month. (image cropped from Annual Town Meeting video)
On Tuesday night, the Select Board will discuss how to proceed now that Town Clerk Jim Hegarty has given his notice. Hegarty confirmed to me that his resignation will be effective September 30th.
Hegarty’s plan to retire isn’t out-of-the blue. In March, Town Clerk Jim Hegarty told the Select Board that he hoped his term as Town Clerk would be ending this summer. At that time, he pitched convincing voters to switch the position from an elected seat to an appointed one.
Hegarty’s original plan included a proposed Article for Annual Town Meeting, followed by a ballot question in the May 2026 Town Election. He would then offer to serve as a “bridge” until a replacement was hired.
Later that month, the plan was postponed after he learned that based on the election calendar/rules, the question wouldn’t make the Town ballot until May 2027. The Article wasn’t included in the Town Meeting Warrant.
It appears that Hegarty’s willingness/ability to serve as a bridge won’t extend through next summer. The agenda for this week’s Select Board meeting includes the item, “Resignation of Town Clerk Jim Hegarty”.
The meeting packet doesn’t include a resignation letter or memo, but it does include the provision in state laws on how to handle appointing a “Temporary Clerk” to fill the vacancy. Based on the language printed in the packet, it sounds like upcoming Town Meetings will be more complicated:
If at a town meeting the office of town clerk is vacant, or if the town clerk is absent, the meeting shall elect by ballot a temporary clerk. The selectmen, or in their absence three persons chosen at the meeting in such manner as the voters present shall determine, shall receive and count the votes and declare the election of such clerk.
However for “other duties than those required of a town clerk at a town meeting”, the Select Board can appoint a temporary replacement. The replacement does not need to be a Southborough resident or voter.
Eliminating the residency restriction for the clerk position is one of the things Hegarty had hoped to achieve by pushing for a switch to an appointed position. In March, Hegarty told the board that since he was elected, the complexity of the job had increased dramatically:
There are over 400 sections of the Massachusetts general laws that refer to actions of the courts. So, it’s a pretty steep learning curve to do this properly.
In 2015, voters elected Hegarty to fill the shoes of Paul Berry, who retired mid-term after more than 40 years in the role. The job was a second career for the retired agent of the FBI. He ran unopposed in the years since.
Hegarty’s resignation is the first item listed on the agenda for the Select Board’s meeting that opens at 6:30 pm on August 11th.
