Marblehead Council on Aging has a new member in Phyllis Smith, a longtime resident and educator in town.
Marblehead Select Board appointed Smith to a term that expires in June 2025. Smith will now join the board that approves the COA’s budget and policy and oversees its executive director.
“I believe the COA is an incredibly important service offered by the town and would like to support it in any way that my skills provide,” Smith,told the Select Board. “And as I’m aging, I think it’s a really important part of what the town offers.”
The COA is a source of fellowship and enrichment for senior citizens, offering hundreds of programs and services out of the Jacobi Community Center.
“I’ve been in town for 52 years,” Smith said. “I was an Abbot Public Library trustee for 12 years, four as the board’s chairman. I currently serve on the library foundation.”
Smith hopes to leverage her connections to the library and MHTV, on whose board she sits, to forge partnerships.
“I am particularly interested in developing a partnership between the library and the COA as the senior population of town benefits greatly from those facilities,” Smith told the Select Board. “There are some natural links that can be developed between the COA, the schools and the MHTV.”
She added, “I love our town and would like to give back to the community and this seems like a good way for me to do that.”