Veteran Select Board Member on Clarksburg Special Election Ballot
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The lone official at Town Hall is hoping to refill the largely vacant building next month.
The list of departures was lengthened this week with the resignation of Amy Cariddi, who had been on extended medical leave for the past month. Cariddi, the tax collector/treasurer, was the last of the "new" employees hired over the past year and a half to quit. Plus, two Select Board members have resigned in the past couple months.
Select Board Chairwoman Danielle Luchi has been holding down the fort but it is limited in the actions she can take because there is, essentially, no Select Board.
That's expected to change after the Dec. 7 special election, when a new board member will be voted in. Veteran board member Jeffrey Levanos is the only name on the ballot; two others took out papers but did not return them.
Luchi said on Wednesday that she's looking to set up interviews with candidates for the open positions as soon as the new board member is sworn in.
There are three positions currently open: administrative assistant, tax collector/treasurer and town administrator.
The town administrator left in a mutual agreement last month with a year left on her contract. Rebecca Stone's departure followed the public revelations of how far behind and disorganized the treasurer's office had become. Cariddi, at the time the administrative assistant, had switched places with then Treasurer Darcy Feder in a move that seemed to suit both of them. Feder's resignation was announced the same day as Stone's departure.
Ronald Boucher, then chairman of the Select Board, quit a week after Stone walked out and member Allen Arnold quit three weeks ago after reportedly being harassed in public.
The town also has an interim town clerk at the moment after first Carol Jammalo quit and then Jessica Sweeney. Retired North Adams city clerk Marilyn Gomeau has stepped in.
Also working in the interim is Ericka Oleson, the former treasurer, who has been helping out part time. Mary Giron, the administrative assistant at Clarksburg School, has also been volunteering her time. Donna Estes, however, has returned as town accountant after her replacement also quit.
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