AMHERST — Amherst’s temporary town clerk for the past month, and a presence in the office for almost six years while assisting with the handling of elections, passports and marriages, is being named the next town clerk.
Amber Martin, who since June 6 has been overseeing the office following the retirement of Susan Audette, is being appointed to the position by Town Manager Paul Bockelman, pending a favorable vote by the Town Council, as required in the town charter.
Martin began her tenure at Amherst Town Hall in October 2019 as management assistant in the office, then became acting assistant town clerk the following September and in April 2021 was named assistant town clerk.
“Ms. Martin impressed those who interviewed her with her positive presence and commitment to the role,” Bockelman wrote in a memo to the council in advance of a July 21 meeting. “Her focus going forward will include: working to enfranchise our large and transitory student residents; expanding our outreach to members of the public who typically don’t participate in elections; developing better customer service standards, especially the offering of services in multiple languages; and implementing more technology and online services in the clerk’s office.”
Martin recently achieved the certified municipal clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks and is working toward certified Massachusetts municipal clerk and master municipal clerk designations. She is a justice of the peace, notary public and commissioner to qualify, which is a designation by the governor to administer to public officers the oaths of office required by the state constitution.
Prior to coming to Amherst, Martin spent more than five years as administrative assistant in the workers compensation unit at the law offices of Thomas M. Libbos in Springfield.
Martin earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology from American International College.
The advertisement for the position set the pay between $87,130 and $117,096.
The town received 27 applications, and a Town Clerk Search Committee was established, with three semi-finalists interviewed and two forwarded for interviews with Bockelman and Human Resources Director Melissa Loiodice-Walker. Bockelman then offered the job to Martin, and she accepted.
The search committee members were Tamson Ely, a member of the Personnel Board who also serves as a library trustee; Jacqueline Gardner, a member of the Board of Registrars; Bill Glover, infrastructure manager in the town’s IT Department; Athena O’Keeffe, clerk of the Town Council and strategic planning and legislative affairs officer; Nancy Talbot, Ware’s town clerk and president of the New England Association of Town Clerks; and Loiodice-Walker.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
