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Date: 8/23/2023
SOUTHWICK — The Select Board began discussions in earnest on Aug. 14 to develop the process it will use to replace retiring Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart.
“It’s a huge job,” said board Chair Doug Moglin after he broached the subject of finding Stinehart’s replacement.
Stinehart has been serving as the town’s chief administrator for over three decades, and is planning to retire in March 2024. During the meeting Moglin offered up several scenarios to find a replacement.
He said the first step in the process is developing a request for proposals from recruiting firms that specialize in municipal government job searches.
During the development of the RFP, town officials must also come up with a description of the position, what is expected, and if the town is looking for a specific skill set for a new chief administrative officer.
“This is important,” Stinehart said.
He pointed out that earlier in the meeting, the board interviewed applicants for the town’s Economic Development Commission and each of the candidates mentioned a desire to have the town focus more on economic development.
“You might like looking for economic development as a skill set,” Stinehart said, adding that town officials will also want to look at the future and decide if it wants to restructure the position, office and organization.
Officials must also settle on a price range for the salary, said Stinehart, whose salary was nearly $110,500 in 2022.
He also said that because the town only pays 50% of town employees’ health insurance, that needed to be a factor when deciding on a salary.
“That could be a major thing, especially for someone with a family,” Stinehart said.
Moglin rhetorically asked fellow board members Jason Perron and Diane Gale if they, as a board, should develop the RFP, or if the board might want to create a search committee to develop it.
While no decision was made on creating a search committee, Moglin said he had come up with a list of who might be included.
Calling it a “starting point,” Moglin suggested the committee include the Police Chief Robert Landis; one or more members of the Select Board; the chair of the Planning Board, who is Michael Doherty; the chair of the Finance Committee, Joseph Deedy and Town Moderator Celeste St. Jacques.
Gale said she had some suggestions for members of a search committee.
Those included a Select Board member, Town Clerk-Collector Michelle Hill, someone representing town counsel, a retired or current school representative and a retired member of either the Select Board or Finance Committee.
Apart from the Select Board member as a representative on the search committee, she said she would prefer to not have another current member of the Select Board or Finance Committee serve on the committee.
She said that was because they might be “too swayed one way or another in the decision making … someone not in the current huckle and buckle,” Gale said.
She also suggested having a “current stakeholder” on the committee but acknowledged that person may not have a complete understanding of municipal governance to be an effective voice.
Stinehart also reminded the board that they should remember that when whatever committee begins interviewing candidates, “it’s a two-way street.” The candidates themselves “will be interviewing us, our group, this committee and the community,” he said.
He also urged the Select Board members to being the process as soon as possible.
“I want to make sure we have a transition and enough time [for me to assist with it],” Stinehart said.
Moglin said the topic would be on the board’s next agenda, on Aug. 28, and he hopes to establish a timeline and process at that meeting.
“We’ve got to keep moving forward,” Moglin said.