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Date: 5/2/2022
BELCHERTOWN – As the town continues to work through the transition from a town administrator to a town manager, the Belchertown Select Board discussed the next steps in the process during its April 25 meeting.
To begin the transition discussion, board member Nicholas Pucel said he spoke with representatives from two search firms, the University of Massachusetts Collins Institute and Community Paradigm Associates.
“They are both very similar in cost and structure. The general idea is this process takes anywhere from three to four months total, these firms do everything – much like the one doing the police chief – where they will work with the town to figure out what specifically we are looking for via board members via town employees, also they can do a citizens’ survey as well,” he said.
He added that the Collins Institute provided him with a sample from a job search for a town manager in Natick, while Community Paradigm sent an overview of the work they do.
Pucel said the cost for either firm would be $10,000 and $12,000, and either would cover all advertising costs.
“They will work with us if we want to have a screening committee here, they will screen it on their own behalf and present us with their top three,” he said. “They pretty much take care of all the heavy lifting, which is nice.”
While Vice Chair Jim Barry said he was concerned about moving forward without a final job description, Chair Jen Turner said the firm the town chooses could help solidify the job description for the town manager position.
“I think part of what they would do for us is help solidify that thinking, even so far as getting community input. We could finish up the work we have been doing on this draft and we can hand it off to a firm or they can help us develop and finalize that discussion with us,” she said.
Board Clerk Ed Boscher said he was in favor of working with one of the firms.
“One of the things I like about the police chief search is that they were willing to go in and screen all the candidates based on today’s environments. I would imagine town administrator/manager has changed over the years as well, so it would be helpful to get an extra set of eyes to figure out what we are missing,” he said.
The board tasked Pucel with getting a similar example from Community Paradigm on a previous search they have conducted before the next meeting.
While the board was set to continue its discussion about the job description it was working on, Boscher said he would like to work with one of the firms on the description.
“I believe that the two firms that we are talking about are willing to do this work with us or alongside us and I imagine it’ll probably be a process where we submit a rough draft and they come back with their thoughts and edits and we go from there,” he said.
The board agreed to wait on finalizing the job description until it meets with one of the firms.
With current Town Administrator Gary Brougham’s contract set to expire on Oct. 31, the board will continue to work on the job description and the search.
“What we really need is a firm timeline here moving forward,” Turner added.
During the meeting the board also approved the warrant for the May 9 Town Meeting, excluding Article 28, the proposed change to the recall bylaw, which is waiting on a final draft from town counsel.
The Belchertown Select Board next meets on May 2 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the May 12 edition of The Reminder.