Listen to this articleReading, MA — A joint meeting of the Select Board and the RMLD Board of Commissioners voted 8-0-1 to appoint Pamela Daskalakis to serve on the Board of Commissioners in the seat recently vacated by former Commissioner John Stempeck. Daskalakis’s term will expire in April, and Daskalakis indicated that she plans on running for a full term at that time. Select Board member Christopher Haley abstained when the final vote was taken, stating his belief that the vote should not be taken on Tuesday but at a later meeting.
Daskalakis, who has degrees in economics and public policy, impressed members of the joint board with her experience as a supply chain professional. “She brings the right skill set,” commented Select Board member Mark Dockser.
Daskalakis is in her third term as a member of Town Meeting, has lived in Reading for ten years, and ran for the RMLD Board of Commissioners in 2022, garnering a respectable 1,846 votes in a four-person race for two seats. In her statement to the joint board, she indicated an interest in helping RMLD with a “cost-effective transition to clean energy.”
Other candidates for the position included Climate Advisory Committee members David Zeek and Raymond Porter and former Wakefield Light Board member Philip Courcy. In a straw poll taken by RMLD Board of Commissioners chair Philip Pacino, Daskalakis received four votes, Courcy two votes, and Zeek one vote, with Haley abstaining.
Daskalakis’s first meeting with the commission will be in the RMLD meeting room on Ash Street this Thursday.
