Framingham Mayor Appoints Former Town Meeting Member To Financial Committee

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FRAMINGHAM – City of Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer has appointed a former Town Meeting member to the Strategic Initiative & Financial Oversight Committee (SIFOC).

Last month, former SIFOC Chair Michael Gatlin resigned. Gatlin had served on the Mayor’s transition team after she was elected in 2017, and was named chair by the mayor when Robert Case resigned from SIFOC after winning the District 5 City Council seat.

The Spicer administration never announced Gatlin’s resignation.

Today, March 8, former Town Meeting member Bill McCarthy announced the Mayor appointed him to the SIFOC.

“Recently I was asked by our Mayor to join SIFOC as a replacement for the vacancy from Mike Gatlin’s resignation.  My application & resume was submitted, I accepted the position and earlier today I was sworn in,” wrote McCarthy to the Strategic Initiative & Financial Oversight Committee.

The Spicer administration never advertised the opening, and the Spicer administration has yet to announce McCarthy’s appointment.

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There are nine members of the SIFOC – 3 appointed by the Mayor, 3 appointed by the City Council, and 3 appointed by the School Committee.

Eight of the nine members are male. The lone female is District 3 resident Mary Kate Feeney, who serves as vice chair. Feeney was appointed bythe City Council.

Since the Committee began, every chair has been a white man, appointed by Mayor Spicer.

Mayor Spicer recently named District 5 resident David Mawhinney as the new chair, to replace Gatlin as chair. The Spicer administration made no announcement of the new chair, but Mawhinney is listed as chair for tonight’s agenda. The SIFOC meets at 7 virtually.

There are no minority voices on the Strategic Initiative & Financial Oversight Committee, and no residents from Districts 7, 8, or 9.

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Mawhinney was nominated by Spicer as the at-large member in 2020 to serve through June 30, 2023, after Spicer’s campaign treasurer Mahmood Akhtar left the Committee.

Ellinwood, a District 6 resident, is the Mayor’s pick for the finance expert on the Committee. McCarthy, also a District 6 resident, will serve as the business leader on the Committee. That term is scheduled to end on June 30, 2021. McCarthy is the owner of William McCarthy & Associates PC.

The City Council appointed Feeney as the business leader, CFA James Culhane, a District 6 resident, as the finance expert, and former SMOC employee and District 5 resident Gerald Desilets as the at-large member.

The School Committee appointed District 2 resident Joel; Francis as the finance expert, District 1 resident David Kilkis as the at-large member and chiropractor Chris Hauck as the at-large member.