Adams Selectmen Appoint Town Administrator, Designate Blight
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ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen officially appointed the new town administrator and designated a new blight area in town.
Pending a physical and his signing of the contract, Tony Mazzucco will start Jan. 12.
He has agreed to a three-year contract with a starting salary of $81,000. The board voted unanimously to hire Mazzucco, the assistant city manager of Caribou Maine, after his interview Nov. 22.
"I think the town is getting an excellent bargain with this particular gentleman for this job," Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington said. "Time will tell but I have a really good feeling."
Selectman Joseph Nowak said the contract negotiation was a smooth process.
"We were in total agreement … there were some concessions brought from our new town administrator and a few small things, but I think he gave back to us more than we gave him in the contract," Nowak said. "So we did go over it carefully."
The board also accepted a resolution that will designate a new slums and blight area and make it available for Community Development Block Grants.
Mark Maloy of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission also met with the board to present the new area that stretches from Grove Street to Columbia Street.
He said the 533 surveyed properties in the area meet the Department of Housing and Community Development blight standards. DHCD calls for 25 percent of the property to be in fair or poor condition. The designated area has 41.4 percent in fair condition and 4.5 in poor condition. This translates to 264 properties.
"We surveyed each of these from the street," Maloy said. "We looked at the roofs, the windows, doors, siding, porches, the foundation, the parking, and whatever we could asses form the road."
 Mark Maloy of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission explains the area being designated as blight. |
He said much of the area's infrastructure is in fair condition. He said 70 percent of the six miles of road in the area are in fair condition as well as the sidewalks, curbs, storm drains, parking lots, and sewer.
Selectman John Duval asked if implementing the blight and slums designation would cost the town any money.
Interim Town Administrator Donna Cesan said historically the town has only had to pay small amounts for staff time.
"We have done well over the years in terms of CBDG funding," Cesan said. "The community development staff that would be implementing the projects are also grant funded so if we conduct this as it has been done in the past … it’s basically all grant funding."
Adams last designated blighted areas in 2002. This started the process that lead to the reconstruction of Park Street and Summer Street.
Tags: blight, CDBG, town administrator,
