Wellesley Advisory Committee elects Mark Benjamin chair for fiscal 2027

WELLESLEY -- May 13, 2026, Wellesley Advisory elects Mark Benjamin chair and pushes to end mailed reports. The committee voted 11-1 on May 13 to elevate Vice Chair Mark Benjamin to chair for fiscal 2027, with Penny Rossano dissenting, and unanimously elected Jay Bock vice chair and Doug Wilkins secretary, both 12-0. A four-way race for a second vice chair seat between Mariana Vinacur, Daniel Weinger, Doug Smith and Paul Barnhill was still underway at broadcast's end. Outgoing Chair Madison Riley flagged a likely year-end transfer to cover special town meeting costs. Wilkins urged a bylaw change to stop mailing the lengthy Advisory report, calling paper distribution "such a boomer thing to do these days," while Benjamin pressed the town to incentivize a revived local newspaper, saying Wellesley "suffers greatly from a lack of town-wide communication channel." Doug Smith called for a new town government study, roughly a decade after the last.