Swansea and Somerset boast two of the most popular town clerk offices in the commonwealth this spring.
These two towns, while taking slightly different approaches with the business, have been among the few in the region to issue intention for marriage licenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We received many requests for appointments from couples all over Bristol County and a few from the Boston area,” Delores Berge, Somerset’s town clerk, said in an email.
Swansea Town Clark Diane Pelland said her office has processed applications for couples from Westport, Fall River, Dartmouth, and even a Connecticut couple planning to marry on Cape Cod. “It’s been amazing,”she said. “It’s not our residents.”
After processing two marriage applications in April, Swansea did 10 in May and, as of this writing, the June application total was 11. In Somerset, where the monthly average is three or four, the clerk’s office has handled 36 marriage applications since the closing in late March and has three appointments set for this week, Berge said.
Though the town office building in Somerset was closed to the public by Gov. Charlie Baker’s decree in March, all offices were staffed. Berge made the decision to offer marriage licenses. She and Assistant Town Clark Kathleen Maiato execute the process in the hearing room, after hours when regular staff have gone home.
Borges said she and Maiato booked appointments for every business day for almost the entire months of April and May and up to this week. They did not schedule Thursday or Friday appointments for the two weeks leading up to town’s local election on June 13.
For the 15- to 20-minute application process, couples must wear masks and bring their own pens. The hearing room is sanitized before and after, Berge said.
Soon after Pelland decided to proceed with marriage applications, she and her staff came up with their own game plan. Applicants make an appointment by phone and then visit town hall during business hours, with a masks and their own black-ink pens.
Once at town hall, they call the clerk’s office and then meet office staff on the front steps, where an alcove offers protection from the weather and there is seating. Staff hands over the paperwork and explains what is needed and then returns inside. Once the applicants are done filling out the application, they knock on the door and return the completed paperwork, which the staff eyeballs before sending the couple on its way.
The staff creates a draft which is emailed to the couple for final approval. Once it gets the couple’s OK, the office prints the official license which, after the mandatory three-day waiting period, is either mailed or held for in-person pickup at town hall’s back door.
“My staff,” Pelland said, “has been awesome.”
Pelland said Town Administrator John McAuliffe allowed her to choose whether or not to issue marriage licenses during stay-at-home. Though her office has also been busy dealing with Town Meeting and town elections, Pelland said she’s happy with her marriage license choice.
“That’s what we’re here for,” she said. “It’s a little extra work on our part, but it’s worth it to make a young couple happy.”
Berge is also a Justice of the Peace, but she said the upswing in demand for marriage licenses in Somerset has not been accompanied by an increased demand for her officiating services. She said most couples applying for licenses have their own officiant lined up.
Since March, Berge said, she has officiated five services and Maiato eight, numbers similar to last year’s. The couple need not wear masks at the ceremony. Guests number less than 20. She and Maiato practice distancing.
“Nothing unusual,” she said, “except one that I performed [where] the family of about 12 people all toasted with the bride and groom with Corona beer.”
Email Greg Sullivan@gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.