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Select Board to interview candidates for interim town manager

Date: 9/17/2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW — The search for someone to fill the town manager's chair on a more permanent basis will continue on Sept. 18 when the Select Board is scheduled to conduct interviews for three candidates — Barry Del Castilho, Joseph Kellogg and Russ Denver — for the position of acting town manager.

The first of those interviews will begin at 6 p.m. in the Police Department meeting room and are taking place on a Tuesday due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Select Board Chair Santaniello told Reminder Publications that he planned to post a meeting, which would take place a day or two after the Sept. 18 interviews for a possible vote.

"I wouldn't expect the board to vote immediately following the interviews," he said. "I would imagine that the board members would like to have some time to digest what they had learned in the interviews and assess their choices prior to taking a vote."

Santaniello also explained that according to the town charter, an acting town manager may be appointed on an interim basis and after two failed attempts to sign finalists to contracts, the board is looking at short-term options.

"Under our charter the title is very specific in calling the title of the position acting town manager," he said. "Essentially the charter says that that person would perform all of the duties of an interim town manager."

Santaniello said none of them were from the list of potentials provided by the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Select Board hired the Collins Center at a cost of $14,000 to recruit candidates with a national campaign and they presented a vetting committee comprised of representatives from several town committees and boards as well as department heads and the labor unions.

The Select Board twice chose candidates with who it wished to engage in contract negotiations, however, neither attempt was fruitful. The board did conduct negotiations with Bourne Town Manager Thomas Guerino, but were not able to agree, prompting another set of interviews by the board with a new set of candidates. The board's most recent choice a, Bonnie Therrien, accepted a position with another community.

Santaniello explained that two of the new candidates were recommended by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the third submitted their resume when they heard of a possible opening for an acting town manager.

He also stated that while the position the board is currently looking to fill is a temporary one, the acting town manager would have an opportunity to apply for the long-term town manager position.

"Theoretically, the acting town manager could certainly submit their resume to become the permanent town manager," he said. "However, being the acting town manager doesn't guarantee them the job."