Mary Bowers

Lifelong Resident

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From Letter to the Townsman - August 20, 2020

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The timing is right for Colette Aufranc to join BOS

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If ever there was someone ready to fill a vacancy on a town board, it’s Colette Aufranc to fill the vacancy on our Board of Selectmen. Colette’s education is just what is needed at this time in our community with her background in finance.

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She’s been volunteering for so many years in Wellesley and most of them have been in the role of treasurer, as well as soliciting bids for PTOs in town, and seeking bids from software providers for PTOs.

Colette Aufranc was a neighborhood advocate re the development of Linden Square, resulting in a good outcome for the neighborhood and the town.

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Since March 2018 Colette has been a strong voice, with participation, as a Town Meeting Member.

Colette was appointed as a member to the town’s Audit Committee in March 2018, then served as Secretary and recently nominated as its chair. The Audit Committee consists of five residents appointed by town moderators with financial expertise.

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Colette Aufranc has been a Wellesley resident for 22 years and has been involved in so many boards and committees and with her personal background and experience, I’m excited to vote for her on Sept. 1 and hope you will, too. The timing is right for Colette Aufranc to be a strong addition to our Board of Selectmen!

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Mason Smith

Civic Volunteer

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Eunice Groark

Civic Volunteer

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Becca Cahaly

Civic Volunteer

From Letter to the Townsman August 20, 2020

Please join us in voting for Colette Aufranc for Board of Selectmen (BOS) at the Special Election. There is no one more qualified or better prepared for this role than Colette.

We have the pleasure of knowing Colette for years and have worked extensively with her as she served as the PTO Treasurer at Sprague Elementary School, the PTSO President at Wellesley High School and as a Town Meeting Member. In each of these roles, Colette was always prepared and extremely organized. To prepare for any meeting, Colette extensively researches issues and studies background information, seeks input from various invested parties and works collaboratively to develop solutions. Furthermore, Colette is always approachable, easy to work with, open to different perspectives, and has a great sense of humor.
 

For the past two years, Colette has been a member of the Town Audit Committee and was recently nominated as chair. The Audit Committee oversees the audit of all of the Town’s financial statements and reports. Clearly, serving on this committee has been excellent preparation for serving on the BOS.

Colette spent considerable time weighing her decision to run for the Board of Selectmen. For the past year, Colette attended or watched all of the BOS meetings. She has spent months speaking with Town leaders to understand the role and learn what is required. She has studied the issues and challenges facing Wellesley. For this reason, Colette not only brings an immense amount of experience and preparation to the BOS, but she will hit the ground running.

We cannot think of a better candidate to serve on the Board of Selectman than Colette. Please join us in voting for Colette Aufranc.

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Victoria Ostler

Former President

Wellesley Education Foundation

Maria Chase

Former President 

Wellesley Education Foundation

Connie Burton

Former President

Wellesley High School PTSO

Andra Jensen

Former President

Wellesley High School PTSO

From Letter to the Townsman - August 13, 2020

Please join us in voting to elect Colette Aufranc to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) in the special election. We had the pleasure of serving with Colette in our former roles as Presidents of the WHS PTSO and the Wellesley Education Foundation. Our work with her gives us confidence that she is an outstanding candidate who will bring a wealth of experience, poise and commitment to the position.
 

Colette is an “all-rounder” with extensive knowledge on a wide range of issues, built through her professional accounting experience and a breadth of civic volunteer leadership positions. She is sought out for advice or a leadership role in every organization she joins because of her engagement and approachable leadership style. She has two years of experience on the Town’s Audit Committee, a testament to her deep financial expertise. She is ready to be a key contributor to the BOS on day one.

As PTSO Co-President, she built a shared vision about how to strengthen the PTSO’s work to advance the goals of WPS and WHS. New connections were built between the PTSO and WEF to further our collective impact in supporting professional development and parent education. Colette draws people together to develop shared goals and as a result, achieves stronger results.
 

This year has shown that change is our only constant – as we adapt to meet the challenges of COVID-19, and also take action to address deeply entrenched societal injustices. Colette is a life-long learner and will embrace these challenges as new opportunities. She is exactly who we need at this time in our town government. She will immerse herself in issues and build connections with those affected to learn from their experience. She brings a warm and personal touch in her outreach which welcomes all sides into the discussion. Rather than rushing, she will make thoughtful, evidence-based decisions.

We hope you will elect Colette so that she can bring her passion and dedication to the Board of Selectmen for the benefit of all Wellesley residents.

Laura McDonnell

Former Audit Committee Chair

Phil Laughlin

Former Audit Committee Member

Stephen St. Thomas

Former Audit Committee Member

Peter Cory

Former Audit Committee Member

From Letter to the Townsman, August 6th, 2020

Please join us in supporting Colette Aufranc for Wellesley’s Board of Selectmen

It is with great enthusiasm and confidence that we write in support of Colette Aufranc’s candidacy for the Board of Selectmen. Our first interactions with Colette came from her engagement as a member of the Audit Committee, which oversees the audit of the Town’s financial statements and reports, and presents its findings to the Board of Selectmen. Her background as an experienced auditor served her and the Committee well as we engaged with the Town’s Financial and Executive Directors, School Business Office, Treasurer, Pension Board, Municipal Light Plant Board, IT Director, among others and the Town’s Auditors. Furthermore, as a Town Meeting Member and long term volunteer, she developed a solid understanding of Town affairs and built good relationships with key Town personnel.  

Colette engaged thoughtfully in important discussions with the auditors each year during the course of the Committee’s work. Colette was always well prepared, clearly showing she had conducted a thorough review of the meeting materials. We appreciated Colette’s immediate willingness to step in as secretary, and later chair, as these positions opened following the end of our terms on the Committee.

Colette is easy to work with, as she is always accessible, responsive, and open to others’ thoughts and ideas. She is also organized and efficient – detail oriented when needed, but equally able to see the bigger picture.  

Having a solid understanding of the Town’s financial position, being an experienced reader of the Town’s financial statements, and having a well-rounded background in finance is an asset to the Board of Selectmen in ordinary times, and will be even more helpful in the challenging days to come as we work though the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Colette clearly has these valuable skills.

Vote for Colette Aufranc!

David Himmelberger

Former Selectman, Town Meeting Member - Precinct H

Todd Himstead

Town Meeting Member - Precinct H

From Letter to the Townsman, July 30, 2020

We are writing to enthusiastically support Colette Aufranc for Wellesley’s Board of Selectmen in the election.
 

We have had the pleasure of working with Colette outside of “official” town work, in the form of neighborhood-level advocacy and consensus-building. As in any neighborhood in town, our community adjacent to Linden Street faces occasional challenges that affect us all, such as construction, traffic, parking, commercial development, and changes to our parks and other common space.
 

Many of these challenges raise quite a bit of concern, worry, or enthusiasm among neighbors, and Colette has for many years taken a lead role in guiding us through. She researches the issues deeply and communicates the facts plainly with all interested parties. She is remarkable at seeing an issue from all sides, and dogged about finding a compromise that pleases as many stakeholders as possible.
 

Our unique town government thrives on officials who listen, collaborate, and seek consensus. We have seldom seen anyone better suited than Colette to this work on the Wellesley Board of Selectmen.

Lisa Collins

Moderator, Central Council of PTOs

Shani DeFina

Former moderator, Central Council of PTOs

Betsy Komjathy

Former moderator, Central Council of PTOs

Sarah Pedersen

Former moderator, Central Council of PTOs

From Letter to the Townsman July 23, 2020

Vote for Colette Aufranc for Wellesley’s Board of Selectmen

We are writing to share our experiences of working with Colette Aufranc in her role as the Treasurer for the Central Council of PTOs, a networking group for all PTOs in Wellesley.  When Colette stepped up to volunteer as Treasurer for Central Council, she set herself a goal of building trust between the PTOs and the School Business Office to form a better working relationship.  Colette also strived to create an efficient working group for PTO Treasurers to pool resources, share information, and create a supportive peer network.  On both fronts, Colette was incredibly successful, in large part because of her pleasant and approachable working style.  Colette succeeded in building trust with PTO Treasurers by being available and responsive, communicating continuously, and listening to the needs of the group; as a result, she was always able to take appropriate concrete action.  Colette leveraged the trust she earned with the PTO treasurers to build an effective working relationship with the School Business Office, facilitating productive semiannual working meetings.  Furthermore, Colette acted as a reliable and dependable resource for PTO Presidents in understanding not only the important work of their Treasurers, but also their shared obligations with respect to monitoring financial information.  As a result of Colette’s persistence, Central Council was able to present annually to the Town’s Advisory Committee the combined level of financial support PTOs provided to their schools and communities, something that had never before been captured and was important when considering budget decisions.

Colette was a pleasure to work with; we all felt that we could reach out to her with any questions or requests for help, and we knew our calls would be well received and thoughtfully addressed.

Please join us in voting for Colette Aufranc for the upcoming special election for the Board of Selectmen.