Verne's service in elected public office in Newton

Verne's service in elected public office in Newton

Verne currently serves as an alderman-at-large from Ward 7. He previously served in that position from 1982 through 1991, and served as president of the board from 1988 through 1991. During his tenure on the board he was chair of the Legislation and Rules Committee and was the Board's president from 1988 through 1991. Highlights of his term as president were the approval of funding for, and construction of, the new main library and a comprehensive revision to tighten Newton's zoning law.

Verne left the Board of Aldermen in 1992 to devote his full time to private law practice with Foley Hoag LLP in Boston, of which he was a partner from 1967 until his retirement in 2001.

In 1993 Verne was elected to the Newton School Committee, on which he served from 1994 through 2001. He was chair of the Committee in 2000 and 2001. By serving in that position Verne became the only person in Newton's history to serve as both president of the Board of Aldermen and chair of the School Committee. While Verne was chair of the School Committee the committee developed the initial plan for renovating and rebuilding the two high schools that was the basis of the initial commitment of state aid for the project. After leaving the School Committee in 1992 Verne was a co-founder, with Susie Heyman, of the Newton School Volunteers, an organization that provides, through a group of volunteers that has grown from 12 to 103, tutorial services in mathematics to students in 14 elementary schools.

Verne returned to the Board of Aldermen in 2004. For the past three and a half years he has served as president emeritus of the board and as chair of its Long Range Planning Committee. In the latter capacity, he worked with Board President Lisle Baker, City Comptroller David Wilkinson, and representatives of the Mayor's office and the School Department to develop the first five-year financial forecast for the city in ten years. That forecast led to the creation by the Mayor and President Baker of the Blue Ribbon Commission on the Municipal Budget, which issued an important report on the city's fiscal situation in the years ahead on February 1 of this year.