Reiss’ bittersweet finale as Town Meeting’s ‘keeper’

At the start of her final Town Meeting with the gavel, Carmin Reiss geared up the way she always has. 

Her “robustly prepared notebook,” she said, held motions, backup materials, and contingency notes. Also at the ready were a three-hole punch, a water bottle, tea, and a copy of Town Meeting Time, a guidebook to the rules of Acton’s citizen legislature. 

But this year’s exercise in local democracy carried something more.

“It’s bittersweet,” Reiss said.

After 10 years as Acton’s town moderator, she would hand the gavel to Karlen Reed. 

Some of her own materials — annotated bylaws, procedural checklists, months-ahead planning guides — were passed down from predecessors Ned Perry and Eric Van Loon. Now, they will pass on again.

“It’s a wonderful feeling of succession,” Reiss said.

For her, the role has always been about more than running a meeting. Each moderator, Reiss said, serves as “the keeper” of the town’s distinctive traditions. She explained that each Town Meeting in Massachusetts is unique, and Acton’s system favors clear up-or-down votes and open debate.

Overseeing the process comes with pressure.

“Acton is a place with a highly educated voting population with a lot of strong opinions,” she said. “They will not hesitate to challenge their moderator.”

And small stumbles sometimes happen. 

“You still occasionally forget to get a second on a motion,” she said. 

A decade later

Reiss said finding her footing as the meeting’s presiding authority took time. She credits Perry and Van Loon with guiding her through early iterations, offering advice and post-meeting critiques she now passes along to Reed.

“I think [Reed] is going to do a great job,” Reiss said. “That feels good, to be leaving Town Meeting in good hands.”

Reiss was Acton’s first woman to be elected town moderator. She said it was a milestone that no longer seems like one.

“It feels like it’s here to stay, doesn’t it?” she said.

After a decade that also saw more women serve across town boards, Reiss said the role has become less about who holds it and more about how it’s done.

“There’s nothing remarkable at all at this point about women being elected,” she said.

And with the responsibility now passed on, Reiss expects things will become a bit easier.

“I will feel lighter,” she said, “and I will exhale, and I will feel a little nostalgic.”

Still, she hopes her tenure will be remembered as an effort to strike the right balance.

“At Town Meeting, it’s making sure that you’ve got full and fair discussion of issues and that you respect everybody’s time,” she said. “All the moderator can do is the moderator’s best.”