Mayor's Biography
| Mayor Roxann D. Wedegartner was sworn into office to a four-year term on January 2, 2020. In addition to her mayoral duties, she currently serves on the School Committee as a full member as designated by the City Charter. In 2002, the voters of Greenfield enacted a charter change establishing a city form of governance and replacing the board of selectman with a mayor and city council. Roxann is the third mayor following the former mayors, Christine Forgey, and William Martin. Mayor Wedegartner values the importance of responsive municipal government in serving the financial, education, and supportive needs of Greenfield’s citizens. She also believe that all residents of Greenfield should enjoy an experience that allows them to fully utilize the resources offered by their community. Among her goals for the City are fostering job creation and balanced growth that supports and strengthens the vibrant local businesses that exist in all business sectors, along with supporting the cultural activities and entrepreneurship that enrich and strengthen Greenfield, making it a great place to live, work, and play; to work actively toward expanding youth services and outreach within the community; and to work across all income levels to ensure that Greenfield has attractive, affordable, and sustainable housing options that fit the changing demographic of the City. Mayor Wedegartner continues to work daily toward these goals, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic of her first year in office, 2020. |
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Before moving to Greenfield with her family in 1980, she lived with them in Warwick, Massachusetts. In her first-ever elected position as a member of the Warwick and Pioneer Valley Regional School Committees, she learned that serving in local government can have a profound and positive impact on people’s lives. The seeds of her long commitment to leadership and service in Greenfield were planted in 1980 with their move to a stout Victorian house on James Street with a “just perfect” wraparound porch. It wasn’t long before the family fell in love with the town and began making memories and enjoying friendships that exist through today.
After moving to Greenfield, where her children would attend Greenfield public schools, she vowed that at some point, even as a working mother, she would continue serving in local government in her new community. In 1992, she was elected to the Greenfield School Committee and again in 1995, and served as chairwoman from 1995 to 1998.
In 2000, just as Greenfield was deciding whether or not to become a city with a mayoral form of government, she was appointed by the board of selectman to be a member of the Planning Board, a position she thought would allow her to effect positive change in Greenfield’s economic development at a time when the town was on the verge of making great strides with a new form of government. She served as a member of the Planning Board for 16 years and Chairwoman for 14 years, leaving in 2016.
While leading the Planning Board, she participated in most of the economic and residential development that helped grow Greenfield's tax base during those years. She also directed and participated in creating the Greenfield Sustainable Master Plan of 2014, a living document that states how the City wants to be economically, environmentally, educationally, and culturally by 2024.
Mayor Wedegartner is fond of quoting the former Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as her motivation for serving as mayor of Greenfield, "I strongly believe being mayor is the public post in which you have the greatest opportunity to change people's lives for the better."
Her quest for the success of Greenfield can be summed up in one word: Onward!