Committee revisits applications

By Jonathan Cook
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - “The continuing saga,” Town Administrator Search Committee (TASC) Chair James Ehrhard called it.
The quest for a Town Administrator took a step back when the Board of Selectmen declined to accept any of the three finalists, but the process will not go back so far as to re-advertise for the position yet.
That decision was made by the TASC at their meeting last week.
“It’s entirely up to us, how we handle it from here,” Ehrhard told the five member committee. “We can re-advertise or not re-advertise and only deal with the 65 applications already received. We could theoretically send up the same three as the last time, or send none of them up or send one of them up.”
However, he went on to say that using “fresh eyes” will be needed to satisfy selectmen. The three finalists they presented to the board were in the second half of their careers, he noted. “We are half of this puzzle. We need to make sure those two pieces fit together,” Ehrhard said. He suggested the committee look at qualified candidates who may be on their way up the career ladder.
Those people are already applicants, he said.
To re-advertise the position would add at least 45 to 60 days to the process, something Ehrhard said is not necessary nor prudent.
Rather, he stressed the need to select three new finalists in “all due haste.”
“A town this size does require some sort of leadership,” he said.
TASC member and Department of Public Works Director Greg Morse agreed that there would be no need to re-advertise. He said he has a list of 18 applicants who could step into the position.
Board of Health Chair and TASC member Linda Cocalis agreed that unless other top candidates are no longer available, there should be no need to re-advertise.
TASC member Carol Childress thought otherwise. “Anything could happen in the last two months. Time is on our side now. I think we should go back through (the applications) but open the door.”
A motion by Childress to re-advertise was not seconded.
Selectman and TASC member Scott Garieri was eager to begin. “Let’s just start looking at them and see what we have,” he said.
But before the committee went into executive session to discuss applications, they voted to allow individual members to contact applicants with Morse and Garieri voting against.
Also, Cocalis asked the committee to consider making a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen. She said selectmen should allow the public to ask the next finalists questions.
“This town administrator is a town administrator for the entire town and all of the taxpayers and all the constituents and all the residents in this town,” she said. “And it’s not just the selectmen’s town administrator. It’s not just the department heads’ town administrator. It’s for every citizen in this community, and they should all have an opportunity to ask questions.”
Garieri pointed out that the committee’s job is to recommend three candidates.
“What they do with it is up to them,” he said, adding that Cocalis could make a recommendation if she wanted.
While “all due haste” will continue to dictate the pace of selection, unlike the last go-round, this time there is no expectation that the interim town administrator’s term is set to expire.
Ehrhard and Childress agreed, however, that if they’d had more time, they would not have changed their choices.
There was a grumbling restlessness at work, as this committee reconvened, showing itself in humor and side remarks.
After it was noted that the selectmen would likely disband the committee if they returned the same finalists, Childress joked, “that could be our strategy.”