Adams Selectmen Put Residency Requirement in Administrator Ad

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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ADAMS, Mass. — The Town Administrator Search Committee meets Tuesday night at 6:30 to organize its goals and procedures.

The Selectmen already have some ideas of what the successful candidate should have — including an Adams address.

Board members last week agreed they would rather have a town leader living in town but weren't ready to commit to advertising the post with a residential requirement since some members were open to residence in a nearby community.

Selectman Jeffrey Snoonian felt non-residency would be an extreme case, although, he thought the town should have the ability to draw more candidates and have flexibility if a really good candidate was found.

"Someone would have to make a pretty convincing argument to me for me to waive their residency requirement … if it gives us 10 or 11 more candidates I think it’s worth it," he said. "I'd hate to have someone move a half a mile over the Cheshire line just to buy a house in Adams to be the town administrator; I wouldn’t mind leaving the door open a crack."

Nowak and Blanchard agreed residency should be an absolute requirement because otherwise the decisions the town administrator makes - such as taxes and negotiations — would not affect them.

"I would really think that this person should be a town resident so they can feel with the people and be out on the street and talk to them," Nowak said. "I just don't want them to be a figure that comes to work and leaves and goes to their own community; they should feel what the people feel in this community."

The town charter states a town administrator must move to Adams within a year, unless the Selectmen say otherwise.

Adams has never had a town administrator who has not lived in town.

The board agreed to send out the advertisement with a residency requirement, but they would be willing to change it if there was a lack of candidates. 

The town hopes to have a new town administrator by early next year after current Town Administrator Jonathan Butler took a post with the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce.


Tags: advertising,   search committee,   town administrator,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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