Tight Schedule For New Town Manager Search

Tight Schedule For New Town Manager Search
Damien Fisher
News Staff Writer

WINCHENDON  The committee tasked with picking candidates for the open town manager position are on a tight schedule to come up with a list of three to five finalists by October.

Meeting for the first time Wednesday night, the committee went over the process of selecting the candidates that interim Town Manager Bernie Lynch will recruit. Mr. Lynch has a separate contract with the town to help with the hiring process. He reported that he has a dozen candidates already interested in the job, and more have expressed a desire to apply.

“Winchendon has a lot to offer,” he said.

While the town is advertising for the position, Mr. Lynch is also reaching out to people within his network, including other current town managers in Massachusetts, to find the right person for the job. Mr. Lynch is a professor at UMass Lowell and Suffolk University, as well as the former city manager for Lowell. He was also the first town manager for Chelmsford.

The deadline for resumes is Sept. 17, then the committee will work to narrow down the candidate list to get about seven to 10 for interviews. From that pool, the committee will pick three to five candidates to pass to the Board of Selectmen. The selectmen will make the final decision on the candidates, conducting a new set of interviews and making the hire.

Ultimately, Mr. Lynch hopes to see the next town manager in place by early November. Mr. Lynch is able to work for the town until the first part of December, as Winchendon’s charter restricts the amount of time a person can work as an interim town manager to a maximum of six months.

Once the search committee starts reviewing the candidate resumes and then conducts interviews, the meetings will be closed to the public.

“Everything has to be done confidentially,” Mr. Lynch said.

Most of the candidates who apply will likely have other jobs, and will not want word to get out they are interviewing in Winchendon, Mr. Lynch said. Making the candidate list public before it goes to selectmen will discourage otherwise-qualified candidates from seeking the job, he said.

The ideal candidate will be someone with municipal experience, who has a good working relationship with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and who can work collaboratively with the School Department. The position will pay up to $120,000 a year, which Mr. Lynch says is competitive for the area.

“Given what Winchendon has been through you want to attract the best possible candidate,” he said.

Winchendon is recovering from a $3.4 million deficit, caused largely by accounting problems with the town’s health insurance trust fund, and by overspending from the School Department. The fall-out from the crisis saw political turmoil, with former Town Manger James Kreidler resigning, and a recall election bringing in an all-new slate of selectmen.

Mr. Lynch cautioned against the town making any drastic changes to the town manger’s position under the charter. He said it will be difficult to get a qualified candidate to agree to take on a job that might be in flux. Additionally, the DOR has stated that Winchendon’s progress toward fiscal recovery can be partially attributed to the strong town manger’s position allowing Mr. Lynch to get the job done.

The committee is next due to meet Sept. 8.