There are two boards with empty seats; the School Committee and the Board of Assessors. The school committee seat is open as a result of Denis Keohane winning a seat on the Board of Selectmen; there is an assessor seat open due to member Kathleen Heffernan moving out of town. So what happens now?
The Library Board of Trustees had a vacancy recently when Ingrid Shaffer stepped down. When the Town Clerk was consulted he said the board had several options and it was up to them how they chose to fill the seat. They included were not limited to a) appointing the candidate who had the next most votes in the most recent town election b) inviting interested parties to appear before the board and selecting from that group or c) leave the seat vacant until the next election.
Regardless of the process selected, the person will need to be approved in a joint vote taken by the board and the Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen generally go with the person put forward. Depending on the size of the board this can be a moot point. However, where the Selectmen have 3 votes to the Assessors 2 they could overrule if they wished. That is highly unlikely. It is expected that the Assessors will look to Bill Bennett to fill the seat, who was narrowly defeated by Jim Henderson in the recent election. There were no contested school committee seats and so they will need to use an alternative selection process.