Templeton down to four finalists for key position

Templeton down to four finalists for key position

Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer


TEMPLETON — The Board of Selectmen will soon begin interviewing the four finalists vying to become Templeton’s first full-time Town Administrator.

The three-member Town Administrator Search Committee submitted their recommendations to the board on April 9 and the names were made public the following week. The committee, which was formed in February to collect resumes and review potential candidates, whittled the 20 applicants down to five finalists, with one, Michael Coughlin, withdrawing his application.

The board spent their last meeting discussing interview questions and procedure, agreeing that there should be a standard set of questions for each candidate and each member should ask the same questions for consistency. The interviews will be taped, however, they will not be aired on the town’s public access station until all the candidates have been interviewed. The interviews are public and residents are welcome to attend and observe.


The first candidate, Michael Szlosek, will go before the board Tuesday evening for his interview. Mr. Szlosek currently lives in Ludlow and was the former Town Manager in Athol for two years before he left the post in February due to the town’s residency requirement. His application sports a letter of recommendation from Representative Denise Andrews, D-Orange, as well as two members of the Board of Selectmen in Athol. Prior to working in Athol, Mr. Szlosek was the Town Manager in Uxbridge for two years from 2009 to 2011. In both towns he helped work with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to secure funding for a new high school in Uxbridge and a new elementary school in Athol.

He was also employed as a Town Administrator, first in Ludlow from 2004-2008, then for three months in South Hadley from July to October 2010. Mr. Szlosek was offered a spot as Southampton’s Town Administrator last September, which he turned down and was also a finalist during the town of Sterling’s search for an Administrator — a position that eventually went to Templeton’s former Town Coordinator Jeffery Ritter. Mr. Szlosek is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and from 1992 to 2004 owned his own private law practice. He also states in his resume that he is a member of Mensa. Mr. Szlosek was unavailable for comment for this article.

The next round of interviews will take place on April 28, with Edward MacDonald of Adams, Mass. appearing first. Mr. MacDonald served as the Town Administrator in Clarksburg from 2001 to 2002, and then in Chester from 2009 to 2013. He accepted an Administrator position in Hatfield in April 2012, however left that post after a week. He also worked as a full-time Administrator for the town of Conway from November 2012 through to his resignation in January of 2013. Articles published by the Greenfield Recorder from that time indicate that Conway’s Board of Selectmen were unaware that Mr. MacDonald continued to work as a part-time Administrator in Chester while working full-time for their town. The board opted to reject Mr. MacDonald’s 30-day’s notice and instead accepted his resignation on January 14 during a meeting which Mr. MacDonald did not attend. Mr. Macdonald subsequently filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint, which was resolved by the Attorney General.  According to his resume, while working in Chester, Mr. MacDonald worked with department heads to reduce a $350,000 deficit – experience that could be useful while tackling Templeton’s own half-million dollar shortfall. Mr. MacDonald could also not be reached for comment prior to press.

Also on April 28, Steven Boudreau of Barre will be interviewed. Mr. Boudreau stated in his application that he was looking for a challenging position and has worked for eight other towns in Massachusetts. He is currently employed as the Administrative Coordinator in Petersham and previously worked as the Town Manager in Ware from 2006-2009. He held Town Administrator positions in Wrentham from 2005 to 2006, Charlton from 2001 to 2002, and West Brookfield from 1996 to 1997. He also worked as an Interim Town Administrator for Webster in 2003. Mr. Boudreau was also a member of the Westford Board of Selectmen for three years from 1987 to 1990 and is formerly an on-call firefighter and EMT for the town. When contacted, he declined to comment for the article.

Last to be interviewed will be Fred Ventresco of Wilmington, VT. Mr.Ventresco currently works in Keene, NH, but previously worked for seven months as the Town Manager for Wilmington from April to October 2011. He was the Town Administrator for Weare, NH for three years from 2006 to 2009 and worked as Manager for two municipalities in Maine – the border town of Madawaska from 2004 to 2006 and the coastal town of Milbridge from 2002 to 2004. Mr. Ventresco said that he applied for the position in Templeton because the town is a similar size to places he has managed before and that he enjoys smaller communities because there is potential to make positive changes as an Administrator.

This will be Templeton’s first full-time Town Administrator, after former Town Coordinator Jeffery Ritter left in January. Before filling the position, the Board of Selectmen opted to change the title from Coordinator to Administrator, giving the individual more authority over department heads and the budget process. The board hired former-Springfield mayor Bob Markel as an Interim Town Administrator in February and he will remain until the end of the fiscal year, when the new full-time Administrator is expected to take over.