School Committee member Jane P. Morgan was chosen to fill the seat on the Select Board vacated by Lenard Diggins, who moved to Somerville at the beginning of October. Morgan will serve until the spring election, which is slated for April.
The four members of the Select Board and the town moderator Greg Christiana voted 5-0 to approve Morgan’s selection, two members cited her experience on the town’s Long Range Planning Committee as an important factor in her favor.
“I think I have about six months of service left in me to [give] to this town that I love,” Morgan said at the meeting on Oct. 20.
In addition to Morgan, the other two people were discussed by the board for the interim position. They were Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Ed Blundell, who has lived in Arlington since 2021 and has been a volunteer for several local endeavors including reactivating the Visitor Center and YourArlington, and Guillermo Hamlin, a two-term Town Meeting member and member of the Hybrid Town Meeting Study Committee.
Morgan replaces Diggins, who served on the Select Board since 2020. Diggins submitted his letter and read remarks about his time on the board at the meeting on Oct. 6. The resignation was effective as of Oct. 7, which triggered a 30-day period by which the remaining four elected members of the board and the elected town moderator had to appoint an interim member. The local election will take place in April 2026, and is expected to be separate from any override planned for the next year.
Morgan has served on the School Committee since 2018. “I will not run for a Select Board seat in the spring of 2026 town election,” Morgan wrote in her letter of interest to the four members of the Select Board and the town moderator, who served as the selection committee. “…and I will resign my School Committee seat effective immediately if appointed to the Select Board.”
This will leave a seat open on the seven-member School Committee. Once Morgan resigns, the School Committee will have to appoint a member who would serve until the town’s election in April 2026.
There was a consensus by that the person approved should be someone who was not seeking to keep the board seat by election, as the appointment could be seen as giving someone an unfair advantage of incumbency. They did not place any limits on the applications.
This news story was published on Oct. 20, 2025, and will be updated as needed.
