First Woman Elected As Greenwich RTM Moderator

GREENWICH, CT — For the first time in Greenwich's history, a woman has been elected as moderator of the Representative Town Meeting.

On Tuesday during the legislative body's first meeting of the new term, Alexis Voulgaris was elected as moderator over Brian Raney by a vote of 150 to 67.

Voulgaris will take over for Thomas Byrne, who has served in the role since 1996 — the longest tenure in Greenwich RTM history. Byrne chose not to run again, but will remain on the RTM as a member.

Katherine LoBalbo was elected as Moderator Pro Tempore in an uncontested vote on Tuesday night. She was nominated by Randy Caravella and Don Conway.

Voulgaris, who served as Pro Tempore for the past four years, has been on the RTM for eight terms in District 6.

Voulgaris has been chair of the health and human services committee for 10 years, chair of the community development block grant advisory committee for six years and chair of the 2020 special RTM governance committee, among other duties. She helped spearhead the RTM's move to a virtual format when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

"I'm honored to be standing before you this evening as the seventh moderator, the first woman and likely the first independent candidate to hold this position in the 88-year history of the RTM," Voulgaris said following the vote on Tuesday. "This would not have been possible without the help of a broad coalition of people from almost every district across party affiliations, promoting my candidacy to members over the last 48 hours."

Voulgaris said it's now time to get to work as a nonpartisan body.

"There is much work to be done this term, and I hope we can all work collaboratively and listen and respect each other in our varying points of view to pass legislation that makes sense for our community," she said. "We need to stay true to our roots, which are that we are nonpartisan and elected to serve the needs of all Greenwich residents."

One issue she intends to tackle right away is the future format of RTM meetings, which have been held in a hybrid style with some members at Central Middle School and others on Zoom because of the pandemic. She noted that any decisions on meeting format will be made by the entire body.

In her nominating speech, Voulgaris also said she wants to explore the idea about streamlining the RTM's voting process and the transitions between speakers, and allowing people to take themselves off speaker lists in real time during a meeting.

This was the first competitive vote for moderator since 1998. Voulgaris was nominated by Joshua Brown of District 4. The nomination was seconded by Kimberly Blank of District 7.

"We need someone that embraces change, someone that embraces good governance, someone that inspires and enables all to be heard, someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and do research and understand what's coming, and get the right people at the table to help us do our work," said Brown in his nominating speech. "Someone who understands and supports and has evolved our rules in what we do. Alexis is that one."

RTM member from District 9 Jane Weisbecker nominated Raney, and said his experience as a data architect and knowledge of RTM rules would serve him well as moderator. She called him "forward thinking", and said if elected, Raney would look to establish office hours to assist people in drafting RTM call items.

As moderator, Weisbecker said Raney would seek to add more consistent background information to items on the call, such as legislative history and first and second read status.

Henry Orphys seconded the nomination.

"Brian understands the RTM's rules like few others. He has two young kids, but has devoted personal time while on the RTM to not only study Robert's Rules, but pass a test qualifying him for membership with the National Association of Parliamentarians," Weisbecker said.

In his own nominating speech, Raney said he was unaffiliated to any political party. He noted that he'd bring a fresh perspective to the moderator role with a solid grounding in rules.

"I would strive to improve our resiliency, efficiency, transparency, accessibility and maintain our collegiality," he said. "We are all just neighbors coming together to make decisions for the town."

Both Raney and Voulgaris thanked each other for their service to the town over the years.

Following the vote, Byrne congratulated Voulgaris on becoming moderator. He said during his tenure, he felt like a lion tamer at times trying to moderate and control meetings.

"We know lion tamers have something to try and control... Well, the equivalent for you is this gavel," Byrne said to Voulgaris. "I proudly pass this on to you and wish you all the best, and offer any help I can in your tenure as moderator."

The next full RTM meeting is scheduled for March 14.