Breaking: Select Board member Mary Hartman resigns, triggering special election

Select Board member Mary Hartman has resigned, citing family reasons. 

The move leaves a vacancy on Acton’s top elected panel and will trigger a special election, board Chair Wendy Rovelli confirmed. 

“This is a deeply personal decision,” Hartman wrote in her resignation letter. “At this point in my life, I need to make space for my loved ones who deserve my care.” 

Hartman, who has served on the Select Board since 2022, called her tenure “a truly enriching experience.” 

She resigned in a Saturday letter to Rovelli, which she shared with The Acton Bridge.

“We regret it,” Rovelli told The Bridge, “but obviously she’s doing the right thing for her family.”

Rovelli said she appreciated Hartman’s counsel, leadership, and “sense of humor when we all needed to laugh.”

Hartman won re-election in 2025. Her unexpired term ends May 1, 2028.

The Select Board will work with town staff to set up a special election, Rovelli said. They’ll discuss the timeline at their October 19 meeting. 

Rovelli suggested the vote to fill Hartman’s seat could happen in early January. 

‘Lasting connections’

In her resignation, Hartman wrote that “stepping away is not easy.”

She said she’s “learned so much and made lasting connections with intelligent, capable and compassionate people,” and she’s “grateful for the trust residents have placed in me.”

Hartman took a temporary leave of absence from the Select Board this summer but returned for recent meetings.

She’s resigning as the board tackles MCI-Acton prison redevelopment and enters a new budget season. 

Hartman, a vocal affordable housing advocate, represented the Select Board on the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust. Rovelli said she expects she’ll take the housing trust position because “there’s a lot about housing” in the prison redevelopment process, which she is helping lead.

Select Board members will divvy up Hartman’s remaining committee liaison assignments, Rovelli said.

‘Important decisions’ ahead

The special election portends a political marathon in town if multiple candidates emerge for Hartman’s seat. An early January special vote would leave only a few weeks before Acton’s annual town election nominating caucus on January 25.  

Both Rovelli and board colleague Cameron McKennitt’s terms expire in the spring. A third vacancy via Hartman’s resignation also means a majority of the Select Board will be up for election over the next six months. 

“We are facing important decisions,” Hartman wrote in her resignation letter. “I have confidence in the Select Board, town staff and our democratic process to move us toward a bright future.”