The Wellesley Council on Aging Board on Thursday afternoon voted to extend an offer to Hollie Lucht, an experienced senior services professional with municipal experience, to head up the COA. The offer would be contingent upon further reference checks and agreement on salary terms.

The vote was 9-0-1 in favor of making an offer to Lucht.

The town of Shrewsbury’s Council on Aging director for the past 6 years, Lucht was interviewed by the board on Thursday during a live broadcast, as is the way things our done in town government. Her presentation was brief, leaving lots of time to answer questions from the board that she handled deftly.

She made references to recently released Wellesley senior needs assessment survey results during her interview (see Wellesley Media recording of Jan. 15 meeting).

Some board members said Lucht was their first choice from the outset, during an initial series of candidate interviews, and that their opinion didn’t change despite other strong prospects. “She really kind of blew our socks off when we first met her,” board member Corinne Monahan said.

Board members were impressed with Lucht’s municipal experience, promise to work collaboratively with other departments in town, and budgeting knowhow. They liked her answers about mentoring and commented on her empathy.

The board last week interviewed Kristine Tilton, whose experience is more in the corporate senior living world. She impressed the board with her presentation and answers as well (see Wellesley Media recording of interview on Jan. 7).

The Wellesley Council on Aging’s previous director was placed on leave last April and resigned over the summer.

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