It took a while, given the pandemic, but town officials are confident their nine-month search for a new Town Clerk was worth the wait. Last week, Dianne Bucco stepped into her new position, in her new office at Manchester Town Hall.
Bucco succeeds Christina St. Pierre, who died last year unexpectedly after an illness.
Bucco is a Certified Massachusetts Municipal Clerk and for the last six years, Bucco has been the town clerk in Wenham, where she has been a resident since 1991. In Wenham, town clerks are elected, which historically was the case in all Massachusetts towns dating back to the beginning of our country.
Prior to being elected as town clerk in Wenham, Bucco was an educator, teaching languages and fitness in the local school district. Then she served as department secretary for the Hamilton-Wenham High School Athletics. This experience tracked as she married and had three children, two daughters and a boy who are now in their mid-20s. Bucco says these roles proved uniquely valuable in 2014 as she looked to run for town clerk in Wenham, drawing on her passion for teaching, and a strong ability to listen, and organize. The mix was perfectly set up for being a town clerk.
“When I became Town Clerk I felt like I’d found my profession, and I loved working for my community,” she said. “When the opportunity here in Manchester came up, it felt like the right time to do something for the love of the job, and not necessarily connected to the community I live in. It’s exciting.”
As town clerk, Bucco is in charge of administering local statutes and maintaining “vital records,” such as census records, voter registration, marriage licenses, dog licenses and birth records. She’ll be responsible for administering fair and accurate federal, state and local elections, including town meetings. There’s also the matter of managing parking and beach stickers in town as well as managing business certificates.
Bucco says she’s looking forward to settling in and, once social distancing restrictions relax, meeting residents one by one, in person, as they go about their business at Town Hall.
