Selectman contacts candidates before interview

By Jonathan Cook
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - A contentious search process, tainted with back and forth accusations of tampering, has a new chapter.
On Monday night, as the Town Administrator candidates awaited their finalist interviews, Interim Town Administrator Michael Racicot revealed that Selectman Tom Creamer had reached out to candidates without the support of the board to do so.
“I talked with all three of the candidates. I just want to say that I’m a little disturbed at the process,” Racicot said. “Selectman Creamer has been contacting the candidates, calling them to talk to them. And I don’t really feel that it’s proper that one selectman go outside the process to contact the candidates.”
Creamer responded, “there’s nothing that precludes me from reaching out to them. All three of the candidates, I said the same thing. Congratulations on becoming a finalist. Review the town charter, because I’ll be very interested in knowing what you perceive from that. And number three, if you are following any of the press reports here in Sturbridge, that’s not something I’d base my decision on.” He added that, “if you have an issue with that, that’s your problem. But there is nothing that was done that’s in any way illegal or wrong. End of discussion.”
But it was not.
Chairman Mary Blanchard told Creamer that it did not matter why he had called them. The board had not decided to do so as a group.
That, Racicot clarified later, was the crux of the issue. He said the authority of the board is as a group and in it’s capacity to do the town’s work, they must act as a group.
“This is a public process at the Board of Selectmen,” Blanchard explained, saying that if Creamer had wanted to call the candidates for any reason, he should have proposed it to the board for approval.
At one point Creamer admitted his calls had been “outside the process,” something Blanchard was quick to agree with.
Creamer seemed flustered by the attention brought to the matter when he said, “I want candidates to know that I’m not going to allow any of the stuff that’s being said in the press, potentially, or that’s being brought up by members who don’t have all the facts to sway my decision either way.”
The discussion continued later on as Racicot indicated that Creamer had spoken with department heads about their role in the process without first going through the board.

Notable candidate quotes

Donald Crawford on working with a divided board:

“Do we have a board here that’s going to work in a collegial fashion? There’s such a thing as ongoing discussion. We can all differ on things, but you don’t want to have it where everything becomes dysfunctional. I think that’s something that has to be looked at. You don’t want to be in one of those situations where you’re going to find you wake up every morning and say, am I going to have to sit here today and have selectman so-and-so give me their side of the story and have another selectman come in and tell me what a jerk the other one was.”

Pamela Nolan on economic opportunities:

“I see it as a perfect place. With the roads that you have here, you have a real opportunity to maybe bring in some headquarters of a major company that would have some room. What you have to sell is quality of life and I think that can be done.”

John D’Agostino on being a manager:

“We have to trust and rely upon the expertise that exists within our departments, because you have good people who work here. And I am that type of person. So I look at myself as an individual with a style of collaboration to build consensus, to work in partnership with the board, provide them with the information that they need, give them the guidance that they need to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the town.”