Cheshire to Form Town Administrator Screening Committee
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Selectmen will appoint a screening committee to review applications for town administrator.
Last week, interim Town Administrator Mark Webber rolled out his timeline for hiring a new permanent administrator and said the first step is to post the job and form a screening committee.
"It feels good to see a timeline," Chairwoman Michelle Francesconi said.
Webber, who emerged from retirement to cover the post after the departure of Edmund St. John IV in December, said he would like the Selectmen to firm up the job description at its next meeting and determine whether the job will be full time.
Once advertised the position, the Selectmen should appoint a screening committee that would review incoming applications, he said.
Webber suggested that the committee consisting of himself, a Finance Committee member, and three residents be put into place. He said although department heads and elected officials will surely be consulted, he preferred to keep the screening committee as independent as possible.
The committee would narrow the applicants down to three, if possible. At this time, the finalists' names will become public and the Selectmen will hold public interviews.
Webber would like to wrap the process up by June so town meeting can allocate the salary, if necessary.
The Selectmen agreed to appoint three residents to the committee.
In other businesses, the board continued their review of the fiscal 2022 budget with the Finance Committee.
Most of the department spending plans reviewed contained minimal increases or were level funded.
However, the treasurer/tax collector budget drew some discussion about a possible new assistant position.
"I think it is just a good idea for someone to know what is going on in here," Treasurer/Tax Collector Rebecca Herzog said. "It is good to have someone who knows your job."
There was some thought on further modifying the position so that the assistant would also work with the town clerk. But there was some concern among the board members that it would be difficult to hire such a broad employee.
"I think the glaring issue would be that it is going to be hard to find someone that can do all of this," Selectman Jason Levesque said. "To do all of this for what the town typically pays would also be hard. They would have to be willing to do all of this for a relatively small salary."
Selectman Ronald DeAngelis felt if the town wanted to hire said employee, it would have to increase the salary or hire more than one person.
"We need to pay a little more, but it will be worth it. We need to get away from that," he said. "Sometimes that is just what it costs ... qualified people have to be paid."
As for the actual treasurer/tax collector position, the Selectmen agreed that this position should be appointed and not elected and that this could be a potential warrant article for town meeting to consider. This would require a bylaw change.
"I would be comfortable with starting this process," Finance Committee Chairman John Tremblay said.
There was some confusion over what this would mean for the assistant.
Francesconi held up the building maintenance budget and said there are some critical Town Hall projects that the town either has to budget for or tap existing funds for.
For instance, she said she is waiting for a quote to sandblast the rusty Town Hall fire escape.
"It is not up to code, and it is a custom project. They really won't know until they take a look at the steel," she said, adding that a violation would mean shutting down Town Hall.
Francesconi said there is also rot in the building's soffit system that needs to be addressed and some sort of canopy over the handicapped entrance needs to be constructed to protect building users from falling icicles.
She said some of these icicles are 6 feet long and fall from the roof of the two-story building.
Webber also touched on the senior/veterans tax work-off program. He said he asked departments if they had any use for additional help. The three departments who responded said no.
Tags: search committee, town administrator,
