Adams Hires Consultant to Launch Town Administrator Search

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:06AM / Friday, May 23, 2025Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen has hired a consultant in the search for a new town administrator.

The board on Wednesday authorized interim Town Administrator Kenneth Walto to enter into a contract with Groux-White Consulting LLC of Lexington.

Walto explained that Groux-White was one of three respondents for requests for quotes sent to seven qualified firms. Principal Richard J. White was the low quote at $12,400.

The quote from Municipal Resources Inc. of Plymouth, N.H., was $15,800 and the final one from Colin Baenziger & Associates of Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., was $32,500.

"It was a two-week turnaround time toward the end of April. The quotes were due on May 12," said Walto. "My internal estimate was about $20,000 so I think we did quite well on low Groux price."

The town is replacing Jay Green, who left in January to become town administrator in Lenox. Walto, former longtime Dalton town manager, stepped in in the interim. It took more than a year to hire Green in 2019.

Walto said he had a long checklist of both submission and quality requirements that the consultant would have to meet and that there was no sense in looking at the other quotes unless the low quote did not meet those standards.

He said he and Selectwoman Christine Hoyt, who has been spearheading the effort, went through the checklist last week and felt that Groux-White "substantially" met all the requirements.

White has helped in the search for a town administrator in Carver, a town similar in size and population to Adams, said Walto, and is in the midst of search for Fairhaven. His consulting resume also includes other municipal leaders such as town managers and harbormasters and he has experience as a town manager.

"We checked at least five references and got positive recommendations from all five of those references," said Walto. "I actually contacted seven communities, and six out of the seven got back to me, and they were very, very enthusiastic about the services that Rick White provided."

The board noted that many of White's references were in the eastern part of the state. Walto acknowledged that but noted that references said he "made an exceptional effort to know the community, talk to residents, staff and town officials, in order to create a profile of a good fit for the town."

Selectman Joseph Nowak asked how they would set up the screening committee. Walto responded that is up to the Selectmen to appoint and is an issue that the board should bring up with White when he meets with them in June.

Nowak also asked about the cost of the consultant and pay for the future town administrator. Walto said there is enough money in this year's budget for the contract and that $125,000 has been budgeted for fiscal 2026 for a town administrator.

"One of this consultant's tasks will be to suggest to us what the appropriate salary would be to attract the right person, then it would be up to the town, whether they want to," he said.

Tags: search committee, town administrator,

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Letter: Progress Means Moving on Paper Mill Cleanup

Letter to the Editor05:00PM / Wednesday, February 11, 2026

To the Editor:

Our town is facing a clear choice: move a long-abandoned industrial site toward cleanup and productive use or allow it to remain a deteriorating symbol of inaction.

The Community Development team has applied for a $4 million EPA grant to remediate the former Curtis Mill property, a site that has sat idle for more than two decades. The purpose of this funding is straightforward: address environmental concerns and prepare the property for safe commercial redevelopment that can contribute to our tax base and economic vitality.

Yet opposition has emerged based on arguments that miss the point of what this project is designed to do. We are hearing that basement vats should be preserved, that demolition might create dust, and that the plan is somehow "unimaginative" because it prioritizes cleanup and feasibility over wishful reuse of a contaminated, aging structure.

These objections ignore both the environmental realities of the site and the strict federal requirements tied to this grant funding. Given the condition of most of the site's existing buildings, our engineering firm determined it was not cost-effective to renovate. Without cleanup, no private interest will risk investment in this site now or in the future.

This is not a blank check renovation project. It is an environmental remediation effort governed by safety standards, engineering assessments, and financial constraints. Adding speculative preservation ideas or delaying action risks derailing the very funding that makes cleanup possible in the first place. Without this grant, the likely outcome is not a charming restoration, it is continued vacancy, ongoing deterioration, and zero economic benefit.

For more than 20 years, the property has remained unused. Now, when real funding is within reach to finally address the problem, we should be rallying behind a practical path forward not creating obstacles based on narrow or unrealistic preferences.

I encourage residents to review the proposal materials and understand what is truly at stake. The Adams Board of Selectmen and Community Development staff have done the hard work to put our town in position for this opportunity. That effort deserves support.

Progress sometimes requires letting go of what a building used to be so that the community can gain what it needs to become.

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