MERRIMACK – Town Councilor Bill Boyd has a coffee date planned Saturday morning, and he’s inviting the entire town to come along.

Six months into his tenure on the Merrimack Town Council, Boyd has launched a meet-and-greet tour, “Coffee and Conversation with a Councilor,” in which he meets with residents to discuss the issues of the day.

The four-week series launched Saturday when Boyd met with voters at Cupcake Conspiracy, a new bakery on Daniel Webster Highway, and it will continue for the next three weeks at various locations across town. This Saturday, the councilor is scheduled to be at the Hot Rize Cafe at 634 Daniel Webster Highway from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

“It’s something that I think is important, to get out in the community as much as possible,” Boyd said Monday, two days after his first event.

“It’s a common sense approach to meeting people in town,” he said. “You can’t expect people to vote for someone they’ve never met.”

Boyd, a health care account executive, first conceived of the idea soon after he was elected to the council in March, And, he started to make arrangements this fall after he was named the board’s vice chairman.

“Now that I’m in this position of leadership, it’s critical that I listen to the people about the things they are seeing or hearing,” he said.

The sessions, which cover two hours each Saturday, are intended to benefit the public by giving them better access to one of their elected leaders, and Boyd hopes they’ll help local businesses, as well, drawing additional customers.

But the sessions, each of which run from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. are also meant to help Boyd, giving him a better idea what’s going on in the minds of his constituents.

“The more people I talk to, the more informed I am,” he said. “Informed as a taxpayer, a homeowner and as a councilor.”

Last Saturday, more than a dozen residents joined Boyd at the cupcake bakery on D.W. Highway. They raised questions on a variety of issues, ranging from the town’s largely vacant Shaw’s Plaza to town tax rates and beyond.

“It was great to see people come out,” said Richard Barry, a state representative and former member of the town Planning Board, who visited Boyd on Saturday.

“You don’t often get a chance to be invited to sit down one on one with the town councilors,” Barry said. “It’s much more inviting than trying to talk to a whole crew.”

Boyd plans to continue the sessions over the coming weeks.

He’s tentatively scheduled to appear Saturday, Dec. 10 at Swan Chocolates at 436 Daniel Webster Highway, and he plans to appear the next Saturday, Dec. 17 at Out of the Woods Cafe at 515 Daniel Webster Highway.

If those events prove popular, Boyd could schedule further sessions next year, he said.

“There may be things that I can fix. There may be things that I can’t fix. But I think its very important that people know that I and all my other colleagues are accessible to them,” he said. “That’s the most important part.”

Jake Berry can be reached at 594-6402 or jberry@nashuatelegraph.com.