Reading Reappoints All Three Incumbents to Permanent Building Committee

READING — June 8, 2026 — Reading reappoints all three permanent building committee incumbents as two major projects near construction. The town's appointments subcommittee — Town Moderator Alan Foles, Select Board Chair Melissa Murphy, and School Committee Chair Sean Brown — voted 3-0 Monday to reappoint Nancy and John Coote to the two full member seats and Ari Greenberg to the associate seat on the Permanent Building Committee. The panel cited the active construction phases of the Killam Elementary School rebuild and the Recal senior center as reasons to preserve the committee's current composition of an architect, structural engineer, and sustainability-focused mechanical engineer. A fourth applicant, Jason Gok, a project manager with PMP and risk management credentials, was not appointed to the building panel but was expected to be placed on either the Reading chapter of the Massachusetts Cultural Council or the Historical Commission. Coote, who turned 89 the day before the meeting and teaches creative writing at the senior center he helps oversee, was described by Brown as "the conscience" of the school building committee.