Interim treasurer named in Blackstone

BLACKSTONE – Assistant Treasurer Catherine Muller has been named interim treasurer-collector to succeed former Treasurer-Collector Steve Perrault, who resigned Dec. 31.

Perrault resigned six months after annual town meeting voters defeated an article that would have allowed election voters at the ballot box this year to decide whether the town should appoint its municipal treasurer/tax collectors rather than having townspeople elect them.

Muller, a certified Mass Municipal Assistant Treasurer, will fill Perrault’s unexpired one-year term until the annual election on April 2.

Perrault is credited with helping to improve the town’s finance department and would likely have stepped forward as candidate for the job had voters decided to make the position appointed (which also would have come with a competitive salary).

The selectmen have argued for years that moving to an appointed model for treasurer/collector would be a way for the town to have a

larger talent pool from which to draw from when Perreault’s term ended in April.

Moving to an appointed treasurer-collector was also recommended by the town’s auditing firm.

In Massachusetts, boards of assessors may be either elected or appointed, as can the treasurer or collector. Traditionally, treasurers and collectors have been elected. To make the position an appointed one municipalities must obtain approval of town meeting.

The Blackstone selectmen have been arguing in favor of an appointed treasurer/ collector for years, saying the appointed model expands the field of qualified candidates, puts the eventual job-holder on equal footing with other finance officers and department managers who have equivalent responsibilities, and makes them accountable to the town administrator.

The article before voters last May was also recommended by a majority of the Finance Committee, which voted to endorse it by a majority 4-3 vote. Had it passed at the town meeting, the question would have gone to voters this spring as a referendum.

A similar article was defeated by Blackstone voters last year and it’s been rejected a handful of times over the past several years.

Selectman Robert J. Du- bois, who argued in favor of the article last year, says it is unlikely the board will re-introduce the idea to town meeting voters any time soon.

“Once again, the people have spoken and this is what they want,” Dubois, who had advocated for the elected position of treasurer/collector, said after the vote last year.

“I don’t see this coming up again because it has already gone before the voters several times. I think the people in town are confident that we have a treasurer collector who is doing a great job, and we agree, but what happens when (Perrault) leaves and we’re back to square one and elect someone who isn’t nearly as qualified?”