Town Manager Peter Fohlin holds a painting by a local artist presented to him on Monday by the Board of Selectmen on the occasion of his retirement.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Meet the new boss, same as the old boss ... at least temporarily.

 

The Board of Selectmen on Monday decided to hire retiring Town Manager Peter Fohlin to return to his post on an interim basis at the beginning of June.

 

Monday marked the last Selectmen's meeting for Fohlin at Town Hall, where he has served the Village Beautiful for 15 years.

 

One of the selectmen who served when Fohlin was hired attended Monday's meeting to join a chorus of praise for the outgoing administrator.

 

"At some point someone will write an epitaph for me," Anne Skinner said. "And I'd be content to have it read, 'She helped bring Peter Fohlin to Williamstown.' "

 

Skinner's remarks came toward the end of a nearly three-hour meeting that saw the board review 44 articles for the May 19 annual town meeting.

 

At the beginning of Monday's session, Chairman Ronald Turbin began with a look back at Fohlin's tenure.

 

"Like so many of us in town, I'm still suffering from denial," Turbin said. "I have to say again that our town has been so fortunate, and if I can say blessed, to have Peter at our helm for 15 years.

 

"It's obvious to everyone that under Peter's stewardship an already beautiful town became even better."

 

The board has hired a Midwest headhunter to help find Fohlin's replacement and has appointed a committee of townspeople to help screen the applicants. But that process likely will not wrap up until early June, and since whoever the town hires would have to give notice at his or her current job, the potential of a two-month vacuum in the corner office led the selectmen to ask Fohlin to consider the interim appointment.

 

The deal proposed Monday night would see him work four days per week starting June 1 at a per diem rate that would be one-fifth of his current weekly salary.

 

Although he is retiring on April 26, state law prohibits Fohlin from working for the town for 30 days, explained Selectman Thomas Sheldon. That is why his service as an interim town manager will not start until June.

 

"It just means I'm taking a four-week vacation," Fohlin said. "And two-week vacations are not unusual. Four weeks is survivable. And I'll still be in town and at the other end of my cell phone."

 

That comment came in response to questions from the board about the transition plan to manage town government in Fohlin's absence.

 

Fohlin explained that town government will operate in his absence much as it has during his tenure — with department heads making the same kinds of decisions they make on a day-to-day basis. Fohlin's assistant, Debra Turnbull, will stay on in her current capacity and serve as the point person for coordinating communication among the departments and with the public.

 

"No one has to do anything differently than what they've been doing for 15 years," Fohlin said. "If you have a question, you call 458-3500, and Debbie takes it from there. All day long I hear her forwarding calls to the treasurer, forwarding calls to public works."

 

Fohlin said that in his absence, Public Works Director Tim Kaiser will be the acting town manager, much as he currently fills that role if Fohlin is out of town.

 

"When the Spruces flooded in 2004 or 2008, it was in October, and I was in Martha's Vineyard, and the storm was such with the ferry schedule I couldn't come home," Fohlin said. "[Kaiser] called me in the dark of night and told me they were evacuating the Spruces."

 

Considering Turnbull's added responsibilities during Fohlin's absence, the Selectmen agreed that she should receive extra compensation after Fohlin departs later this month.

 

Fohlin's interim contract — likely to be formalized at the next board meeting on April 27 — will not include vacation or personal days and be limited to 960 hours (120 days) per year, the maximum allowed by law.

 

No one is hoping the arrangement lasts that long, least of all Fohlin himself.

 

"No matter what happens, I'm not spending another winter here," he joked.

 

The due date for applicants to replace Fohlin is April 20. The town's consultant, GovHR USA of Illinois, reports it already has a "handful of applications," Sheldon told his colleagues on Monday. The town's search committee will review the applicants on May 11 and conduct preliminary interviews in executive session the week of May 20. The board will hold public interviews at the end of May or beginning of June.

 

In other business on Monday, the BOS approved a license to install a 4,000-gallon below ground propane tank at a residence on Hopper Road, appointed Holly Edwards to represent the town on the Northern Berkshire Cultural Council, granted a five-year use license for a 4-acre portion of the Eastlawn Cemetery property to an abutting farm to graze horses on the land and finalized an option agreement to allow Berkshire Housing Development Corp. to develop subsidized housing on the former Photech Mill site on Cole Ave.

 

Last spring, the board chose BHDC as its developer of choice for 330 Cole Ave. The document signed on Monday night allows Berkshire Housing to move forward with applications to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for funds to build up to 46 units of affordable housing on the site.

 

"The final mix and final number of units will be based on input from the community, zoning restrictions, a market study, environmental constraints and, obviously, financial feasibility," Berkshire Housing President Elton Ogden told the board.

 

"The goal is to do at least 46 units, and I believe 40 is the minimum. We think that's achievable."

 

Ogden said he hopes to submit an application for funding to DHCD in early 2016, but he expects it will take a couple of funding cycles for a proposed project to get to the top of the list for state funds.

 

The option signed on Monday night has a two-year window, after which the town and Berkshire Housing will re-evaluate.

 

As for the annual town meeting warrant articles, the four selectmen in attendance on Monday voted unanimously to recommend the town adopt all of the proposals except for two of the citizen petitions.

 

The members of the board praised the intent of a pair of citizen-drafted articles — one to regulate plastic bags and promote the use of reusable bags and the other to prohibit the distribution of foam and rigid polystyrene containers in restaurants.

 

But the board voted unanimously to recommend that those issues be addressed by town boards for the development of a bylaw that could be adopted at the 2016 annual town meeting.