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Date: 4/18/2022
BELCHERTOWN – After an executive session during its April 4 meeting, the Belchertown Select Board announced during its open session meeting on April 11 that the town would not be renewing Town Administrator Gary Brougham’s contract, which is set to expire later this year.
To announce the decision not to renew Brougham’s contract, Select Board Chair Jen Turner read a letter thanking him for his service to the town since becoming the town administrator in 1997.
“The Select Board wishes to commend you on your many years of service to the town of Belchertown, your guidance and leadership have taken the town through a huge period of transition as there was an increase in residential growth and population over the last couple of decades,” she said. “The stability you have provided in support of the town is appreciated.”
Board Vice Chair Jim Barry said the decision to not renew Brougham’s contract passed with a 3-2 vote with Barry and member Ronald Aponte voting in favor of an extension, and Turner, board Clerk Ed Boscher and member Nicholas Pucel voting against renewing the contract.
“I think it is important to note that the vote on that letter was 3-2; it was not unanimous,” Barry said.
Without a renewal, Brougham’s contract is set to end on Oct. 31.
Turner said the search process to fill Brougham’s seat will begin immediately.
“We are going to need to start the process formally and figure out our transition plan moving forward into the future. Our timeline will be to solidify this next phase in the transition from town administrator to town manager and then figure out a recruitment plan and all of those pieces,” she said.
Turner said the hope is that Brougham serves through the rest of the contract and his successor takes over when the contract expires.
While Brougham was not present at the meeting, he spoke with Reminder Publishing after the meeting to give his thoughts about the decision.
“I was disappointed that Chairman Turner chose to read the letter into the record that I only received Monday afternoon [the same day as the meeting]. I obviously don’t agree with the decision, there is change in Belchertown’s future, whether it happened in October or May, June, July of next year, it makes no difference. We’re in a good position where we are – speaking from a management perspective – a few months one way or the other isn’t going to change the outcome of the decision to move to a town manager, what it is going to affect is some of the critical work that we have in the pipeline right now,” he said.
One of the larger projects Brougham said he is currently working on is the infrastructure upgrades at the Sportshaven Mobile Home Park. He said the project is slow-moving and has required collaboration with Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the attorney general’s office, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Mass Housing, Mass Legal Assistance, the Sportshaven Tenants’ Association and Hampshire Housing Court.
“The park is in marginal condition from an infrastructure perspective, and we have been working diligently trying to rebuild the vital services to enable the association to take over ownership and management of the park,” he said. “I’m afraid if I drop dead, they would have to figure it out, but I have the institutional knowledge, I am the one person who has been involved with this for 20-plus years and I understand the needs and solutions, the board drawing a line in the sand is not going to benefit anybody from that perspective.”
With his contract expiring, Brougham said he was worried about the future of the project.
“I do not want to set the Tenants’ Association up for failure when they accept title to that property, they need to have bylaws and all of the legal implements to move forward and manage the park effectively. If they don’t have all those things they are not going to make it, and I do not want that to happen after all this time and money,” he said.
By adding his position to the mix, Brougham said it creates more instability with upper-level management in town with the police chief and library director retiring in June, the health director having already resigned and the treasure/collector leaving at the end of 2022. He also spoke to the difficulty of hiring people into these positions.
“These positions are popping up all over and like everything else, nobody is interested any longer, they are tough, tough jobs and with the way that our world has transitioned to people being more connected with social media and there is a blatant lack of respect, this is really getting complicated and a lot of people are not saying, ‘pick me,’” he said.
With the decision, he said he expects residents to have questions about what happened.
“The two who voted yes argued for the same reasons I would that this is a horrible decision at this time. In my opinion, there’s some petty politics going on here. I have confidence in the Belchertown voters, I have lived in this community and I have worked in this community, and I think the voters are generally satisfied with my service. I am near confident that when folks start to see this decision moving out into the public’s eye, there’s going to be questions,” Brougham said.
He said he asked for an extension through June 2023 with the option to be extended in six-month intervals after that date.
“I was not asking for a commitment for life, I asked for a simple extension for all of the right reasons. My heart is in this job, my heart is in this town, I lived here for 70 years, I know every corner, I know every intricate part. I’m sure if you asked nine people on the street three of them would say, ‘He should’ve been gone 10 years ago,’ but by and large my work has moved this town to where it is today from an infrastructure and a management perspective,” Brougham said.
Brougham added that he was not given a specific reason as to why his contract was not being renewed from the members who voted against it.
“No explanation, just a simple, flat-ass no. It’s not tied to a performance evaluation, it’s not tied to an incident where there was a complaint filed against me, it’s just an arbitrary and capricious decision based on three people’s personal opinions,” he said.
Brougham also described the extension talks over the course of several Select Board executive sessions after the extension was initially brought up during a Feb. 28 session. At that meeting, Brougham said he outlined what he was looking for and was set to discuss the extension before he said he was asked to leave for the board to discuss the extension without him. After that, Brougham said he did not learn until March 7 Special Town Meeting that no decision had been made in regard to the contract and because of absences at upcoming meetings, it would not be discussed in executive session again until the April 4 meeting when the decision was made.
Brougham added the outcome of the election could sway his thought process about the rest of his contract.
“There is an election on May 16, and I do hope the voters are paying attention. There’s two incumbents who voted ‘no’ up for re-election and there is a third person running and I hope people look at that ballot and think about Belchertown and think about Belchertown’s future, because I don’t think the three who voted against me are making the right decision,” he said. “I haven’t told them that I’m going to leave, but I am clearly going to reassess my options when the election happens. It probably will be a big decision point for me.”
While Brougham said he initially suggested a transition from a town administrator to town manager in 2018, he questioned the desire to jump into a change now after receiving a report from the Division of Local Services that recommended the transition.
“Why are we pushing the envelope just to satisfy a suggestion when there is so much at stake, when there’s currently four managerial positions that are in the crosshairs in the next five months, mine will be five. We’re struggling trying to hire firefighter/paramedics, police officers and police dispatchers, why are we doing this? It’s shortsighted, in my opinion, and I hope people are paying attention,” he said.
Brougham added he was disappointed in the decision.
“Folks for years have said I wear my heart on my sleeve and I probably do more often than not, but it’s disgusting,” he said.
Prior to announcing the decision, the board discussed beginning the transition from a town administrator to town manager by reviewing a job description for the new position. The board discussed the role it would have alongside the town manager, who would report to the town manager and salary among other things. As the transition continues, the board will continue to develop the job description during upcoming meetings.