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order this very special meeting of the chances select board for July 6, 2026. And if you would join me in the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

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stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Thank you. And I want to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast by Chancellor Tele Media and recorded for later rebroadcast. Um,

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and it is a a special select board meeting. We only do this about every 20 years or so. Um, tonight we're interviewing two uh candidates for the position of chunks of town manager. Um, and the the way this

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will work is I'll I'll bring up the first candidate. um ask him to introduce himself. Give him two to three minutes to do that. Then uh uh Jeff Hardy and myself will begin the questioning since we were not on the screening committee. So we'll have a little extra time to ask questions. Uh following our questions,

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I'll give the three members who were part of the screening committee an opportunity to ask any additional questions they may have. After that time, um, I'll give the candidate a opportunity to ask any questions you might have of us and also

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to give a a wrapup about what um, he'd like us to know about uh, what he would do as town manager um, and how long I would expect it. Some of us haven't heard it. So, so anyway, so Thomas Gregory, if you want to come up to the uh, table and

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we will begin we'll begin this process. So, first of all, if you take a few minutes to introduce yourself. >> Sure. Well, I'd like to first begin by thanking the select board for inviting me here this evening. It's really a a privilege to be here and I'm grateful

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for this opportunity. Um, I started a career in local government 20 years ago when I was hired by the Worcester city manager to administer federal u community development block grants some of the distressed targeted cities in Worcester economic development programs,

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housing programs. Um, and then a couple couple of years later, I was then appointed as director of a regional homelessness initiative that the city manager was spearheading. Uh it was a time during the significant economic downturn

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um I brought together groups of um business leaders ed those in the education world uh civic world to find a way to make lasting uh impacts in homelessness housing first strategies. Um and it was really during this

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difficult time that I saw the value and came to appreciate the value of local government um sort of boots on the ground providing meaningful services to the residents who at the time were in desperate need of assistance. Um I was after the city of Worcester I was

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hired by the town manager in Shrewsbury 2011. That was my first foray into municipal management. I had a great opportunity to be mentored by a senior town manager at the time who gave me a great opportunity to see all aspects of municipal management from procurement,

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collective bargaining, project management. I staffed the finance committee and supported them in their role. The same with the personnel board. Uh I managed the town's um insurance coverages and the town's classification and compensation um plan. Did a lot of

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personnel work in that regard. Um that was sort of an establish establishing foundational point in my career. When I took the next job in Walpole, it's when I really found my voice and found um my confidence in being a manager. I came to

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Walpole at a time when the town was just embarking on a significant building campaign, new fire station, new police station, new senior center. and uh and the town administrator gave me some real latitude to oversee those projects and work closely with the permanent building

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committee, the OPM, the architect. It was one of the most exciting moments in my career. Um being a part of those projects and seeing those buildings come to fruition. Um and at the same time in Walpole, I I staff the capital budget committee, the personnel board as well.

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Um I oversaw all procurement uh in Walpole. Um, and that was a great opportunity there. I took my first job as a town administrator in Spencer in 2018. Shortly after I had arrived in Spencer, the town had just completed a a

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communitywide needs assessment. And the residents determined of all the pressing needs, and there were many, as there are in most communities, the roads, the backlog in roads was the biggest issue. And they had voted a $19 million debt exclusion to address the backlog. So

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when I arrived in Spencer, I had this great opportunity to implement to execute that decision and I oversaw the issuance of debt in three phases um to make real lasting improvements in the in the town's roadways, the culverts,

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bridges um and I also at that time helped bring the community through the COVID crisis. So I look back with a lot of pride um at that accomplishment. I arrived in Hudson uh in 2021 when the world was reopening and um I'm very

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proud of my record in Hudson and I'm looking forward to getting to some of the details as the interview progresses. Um some pretty significant building projects, some um systems changes um that I oversaw, introduced enterprise funds for the first time that was long

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overdue. Um and I'm very proud of my record in Hudson. I look back with a lot of um pride working with a terrific group of department heads and staff and very excited in this position here in in Chelmsford. Um very interested in in in

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um pursuing this opportunity. I I know I know well that Chelmsford is a well-managed town fiscally. Um I know that the emphasis on building reserves has been a big focus in Chelmsford. um 17 million in stabilization, 30 million

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in the OPAB trust. And I know that that requires fiscal discipline and tradeoffs. And I know and I'm I'm impressed that the town has been able to maintain those commitments in the larger face of the economic difficulties in this hyperinflationary environment and

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having to live within Proposition 2 and a half. So, um, I was really thrilled to see and learn about the town's sort of fiscal stewardship and commitment to looking ahead, looking forward to and trying to address future liabilities and

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at the same time ensuring that the services are continuing to be provided. I look closely at the strategic plan, the five-year strategic plan. I was also very impressed to see that the town values robust input from the community. It's an engaged community who want to be

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involved. I can see that the town wants to support that and I'd love to be a part of it and love to be able to help in that regard. Um so again, I'm I'm I'm very thrilled to be here tonight. Um very excited about this opportunity. I love the profession. I've committed to

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the profession of local government in in an era where people can be skeptical skeptical about the value of government. I know that it can be important and meaningful in people's lives. So, um, that's sort of the big picture of my interest in the position, my history, and where I am today in my

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career. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. So, I'm going to start the questioning. So, um, if you were to get this position, tell me how involved do you think you would be with the general community? You know, what events or types of events would you anticipate that you'd attend or or

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participate in? Well, if I were if I were hired, I would make it a point to be as engaged as I could be in the community, especially in the beginning part of of an appointment. Um, to get to know people, um, to get to see people in the community, interacting with them

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means a lot to me. Um, I would want to work closely with the various boards and committees. I'd like to forge an effective relationship with the select board, with the finance committee. um being out in the community. I know Chford has a very um

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um his historic um July 4th celebration that you just experienced. Um those are the kind of events that I'd love to be a part of and uh would would very much enjoy the Memorial Day event as well. >> Are there any local organizations that would be of interest to you? Um our

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previous town manager would spent a lot of time with the Rotary. Uh we know that many of us here are you know associated with the Lions and other civic groups like that. Any of those? >> Oh absolutely. I I had a I forged a great relationship with the Rotary Club in Hudson. I gave a several couple of

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speeches there and a couple of informal gatherings I had with the Rotary Club. So that means a lot to me. Um the housing authority is another entity that I'd like to forge a relationship with and get to know. Um those were a couple. >> Okay. Um and you may or may not know

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that this board uh periodically we meet with us our legislative delegation typically twice a year. Um our legislative delegation consists of four members. We have three state representatives and one and one senator. Um how how would you feel how would you

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stay connected with them or how have you in the past stayed connected with legislators and and how often do you feel it's appropriate to reach out to them for needs about the town? >> Sure. In my excuse me, in my time in Hudson, I I worked hard to develop a great

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relationship with Representative Kate Hogan, who's the speaker prom in in Boston. Um, she was very much a supporter of the town and I wanted very much to be linked with her in that effort to let her know of our successes, let her know how she can help us. we

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were able to secure a couple of earmarks and that comes that doesn't happen sort of that that takes work that you need to be intentional as far as this position to be communicating about what's going well what what could we benefit from what could the state help us with so

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I've seen the I've seen the value in making those relationships strong from the beginning and staying in touch I've stayed in touch with our district director pretty routinely um regarding activities in the town Um it would be more involved it would be more involved

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here in Shelford with more uh legislators. Uh but it's something I would enjoy enjoy doing and would look to do soon. >> Okay. I mean I it's I guess timing isn't the best because right now the budget has just been passed. So but still there's ample opportunity to get more

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earmarks which we always like to hear that word. >> Right. Right. Right. Um, how would you deal with um with the media, both the social media and news media um having to do with positive and negative stories having to do with the town? >> It's a good question. I view my position

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as being a primary liaison to the media and making sure that the message that's crafted and disseminated in the community is thoughtful and carefully prepared. I always treat um engagements with the media carefully. Um, sometimes

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you'll be r sometimes I'm feeling rushed to present or to give some information quickly or or other information under a deadline. I I've been very thoughtful about um taking my time to make sure that the message is communicated accurately. I think that's an a

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fundamental role of this position to make sure that um um information good or bad is being accurately reported. And so getting to know reporters over time helps helps that effort. So you kind of build that relationship um so that they know that you're leveling with them and

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if they need a story maybe they'll think a little bit about you know I'll get out in front of the story and ask the manager to help me earlier rather than right up against the deadline. So um I have a lot of experience working working with the media. >> Yeah. Okay. That kind of leads to yeah

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the second part of this question. And would you ever initiate stories to basically I guess feed to the to the media and if so under what circumstances? >> Yeah, that's a good question. We've done that. So we we in Hudson at the near the inter or the the

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vicinity of 495 and 290 the Intel company had for many years a large chip manufacturing company. Um and they were the largest taxpayer in Hudson. um but they've been winding down their operations and it's been um an

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effort to try to attract another developer um and we did that. We've attracted a Boston based developer, National Development to come in. Uh we partnered with them early on in the effort um because we all had a share in the

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success of this redevelopment um the town and the developer. And when they p when the site plan was approved by the planning board, this is a 150 acre site, a 900,000 square foot industrial site that will be transformative to the town in many ways.

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I crafted along with the community development director a very a very detailed positive message to be out in front of it with the community for the so that the community would know that the town leaders are a part of this as well or are partnering with the

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developer are making sure that this development will succeed for the town. This that was not too long ago that was earlier this year. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, as you know, Chelsea, like many other communities, we're going through ch, um, challenging

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financial, um, economic, uh, situations. So, um, kind of give me your idea of reducing expenses versus raising revenues. Is it one you would focus on more in a situation such as that? And how would you do that? >> Well, it's a it's a balancing act. I would say that of the of the challenges

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facing Chsford in most communities right now, at the top of the list, I would argue, is how to exist within the constraints of Proposition 2 and a half and continue to deliver the services that the residents expect with that re

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revenue um restraint. So, you've have to be efficient with all of your dollars. Uh I know that Chelmsford takes pride in living within its resources in these recent years. Um um but not all towns have had that

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have had that success. And so wherever there's an ability to find efficiencies, the manager I think well I know is is charged with finding them. And here's an example. Um Hudson has struggled like many

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communities to find and retain um dispatchers, public safety dispatchers. uh and we've had sort of a revolving door and our salaries haven't really been competitive in the labor market. Uh and working with the police and fire

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chief over the last 16 or so months, we moved into a regional dispatch district, the NHoba Valley Regional Dispatch District, which saved the town a considerable amount of money um and alleviated that burden that that hiring burden that we were struggling with. So

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there's a there's a good example of efficiencies that can be found um and that takes time that takes buyin with the policy makers um and effort and discussion um but you have to find every creative way to maximize expenditures.

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>> Okay. And kind of on on the the um the collaboration with with regional partners whether it's cities or other agencies or whatever you may be may not be aware ch we do collaborate with our surrounding communities quite a quite a bit with bara surprisingly um with uh

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with tangsboro with with l so do you have any specific ideas on what where you think would benefit from regionalization and how we would do that? I haven't given that too much thought. Um

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I'm aware of the um the sewer issues and the sewer moratorum and I know that you Chelmsford is linked directly with LOL in that regard. Um and I know that's a large barrier to attracting new commercial and industrial growth. So any

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efforts any effort and I know this was articulated in the strategic plan as well among the many items the objectives any efforts I think to look at that arrangement um to see what improvements can be made to increase capacity I think

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are well made or well intentioned um that comes to mind off the top of my head. >> Okay. All right. Um and I want to ask you a little bit about working with with staff within the the town hall. Um um I'm sure as Tom Manergy realized you have to delegate many tasks that that

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come across your desk. How would you determine what you could delegate and when you could delegate to specific um personnel that are that are under you either department heads or even lower staff after that? >> I think it takes time. It takes time to get established. It takes time. It would take time for me to get established and

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get to know the department heads. You know, know what their strengths are, know where they need assistance. um because their success is no one succeeds individually in this profession. The success is always shared amongst the organization. Um, so I've tried very

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much in my role as town manager in Hudson to be a facilitator to try to to try to get the resources to the department heads that they need to provide the services to their community and to make sure that they're working in a coordinated effort um and to be a

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partner with them in problem solving. So, um I think the question about delegation, I think that would just take some time for me to understand um you know what what it is I can do to help. I'm le I'm

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I'm less likely to pull things back from department heads than I am to help them, encourage them, and support them. Um I'm a good example, we um town meeting authorized a $ 1.2 2 million fire station renovation, significant

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renovation to the air handling units and the rooftop, a 20-year-old building, and those components hadn't been touched since then. Um, and I had a relatively new fire chief who didn't have a whole lot of procurement experience. So, I saw an area where I could I could be the

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project expediter. I drafted the RFQ for the design services. I managed that that that appointment. Um, I managed the oversight of hiring the general contractor, not because the fire chief couldn't do it, but he was new and I had that project manage management

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background and I was happy to support him in that effort where he could uh focus on the operational needs of the department. So, there's there's a good example of sort of a you know, you figure out what you can do to help, what your knowledge, your skill set is that you can bring to the department um to

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support them. >> Okay. Um and and h how do you handle personal relationships with I guess primarily your department heads? How do you maintain a friendliness such you know such that you are able to trust them but but not go I guess over the line to where it you're so friendly with

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them that it's hard to um I don't know to discipline them or or pull them back if they you think they're doing something wrong. >> Sure. I think it's a balance. It's a balancing act between holding employees, department heads, accountable, but also being a resource, a partner for them to help them solve the problems that

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they're facing from time to time in their department. So, it's a balancing act. Um, I try to in my day-to-day efforts model the expectations that I have of the employees. And so, what does that mean?

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being direct and communicative with the employees, being approachable and accountable, um delivering on what you say you're going to do so that employees, the department heads know that um that I'm there to support them and that we all

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have to be held accountable in the eyes of the public. Um, but I want them to feel that they're approachable to to me um to to see me to resolve problems. With regard to personnel issues, I've been very intentional over the years in

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my position in Hudson and in Spencer to try to be proactive about resolving difficult personnel issues before they turn into something unwieldy or unmanageable. And that takes a little

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bit of a six sense, I think. Um, but you h you have to be engaging with people to know in the first place whether there's a personnel issue um either between the the employee and the manager or between the staff themselves. Um, and so that

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means being out in the in the town hall in their offices being with them and talking to them and knowing them and getting to know them. Um um so that that's that's been my strategy around personnel administration

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and and and and collegiality with my department heads. And I've been very lucky in Hudson. We've had a great exceptionally great um cohort of department heads that have always wanted in my time to work together. There was very little turf and territory. So I was just fostering that

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that um great dynamic from the beginning which was which has been very very good. >> Okay. Um, so can you tell us something that that you're really proud of that was not brought up in your resume or maybe earlier in in your um interview

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with the screening committee? Just it can be personal, professional, just something you'd like. >> Oh, sure. Um, >> excuse me. Well, Hudson um like many communities um in the last several years have been facing these this you know growing

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financial you know pressure on the re on the property tax the constraints of Proposition 2 and a half and um this was about two two years two or three years ago. I I could see that an override was was going to be needed

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in the community um to support the school department. 80 85% of those dollars were going to or maybe more would be used were needed for the school department. And so not long after the new school superintendent arrived in Hudson, I really made it a

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point to forge a good relationship with him. Well, because I knew that was good in the first instance, but also because I knew that um an override was likely going to be brought together or would be presented to the residents uh which it

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was in last year in 2025. Um and so I I linked closely with the school superintendent um to work with him. We have a terrific relationship um and have since the beginning and partnered with him in the community

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during the presentation of the the the need and the imp and the implic and the tax implications. So I saw my role and this the school superintendent would talk about the the impact that the around class sizes and program reductions and I was standing by his

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side to talk about um the tax implications and what this means and what would have to what would have to be eliminated the trade-off that would have to be eliminated on the town side. So, and it was a little bit of a a delicate act because the in my opinion the town

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manager really can't be waving the flag for the override, right? But the manager can be telling the residents about what is an override, what does this even mean, right? How does this work? The levy, the levy limit. Um, I put together

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a really instructive document for the residents for the benefit of the residents with an online calculator the DLS was able to I was able to embed in the document. Um, and I'd like to think that the efforts that I made um, getting the information

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out to the residents about the override was instrumental in its passing. Um and so I I take a lot of pride in that effort and being careful about my role in that. I also at the same time during

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that that time brought together the the select board, school committee and the finance committee under one room which I don't which I don't think had happened in many years if ever being I was told from some of the some of the more senior folks, oh this isn't a good idea. We they shouldn't be in the room together

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and you're setting a bad precedent. I thought well they need to be in the room together. they need to be talking. They need to have these strategic discussions and I and I made that happen. Um, so I'd like to think that those efforts, those collaborative efforts were effective for

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the town in that regard in the passage of the override. It was a nearly a $4 million override that passed last year. >> Okay. Um, yeah, just so you know, our school committee, select board, and finance committee meet at least once a year together. >> I think that's terrific. Yeah. And I I

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did read that. >> Okay. Um, so that's all I have for right now. So Jeff, I'll turn it over to you. >> Okay. I've just did some generic stuff. Um, how much do you know about chances? What do you see as our strengths and how can you enhance them? What do you see as our weaknesses and how can you improve those?

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>> On the strength side, um, I see a town that's been managed fiscally managed very, very well over many years. Um and and there's some real stability

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there that um the policy makers understand the value of being strategic as as I mentioned earlier the value of building reserves um looking ahead at uh unfunded liabilities

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um but at the same time balancing those needs with um giving the public safety departments the staffing that they need and I know that's been a challenge here. Um, uh, I understand where you are with with the firefighters at the at the current moment. Um,

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the position of the town manager is a position that's well respected and well established. That's also that in my opinion adds to the value of the community of the organization. Um you know and then on the on the on the weaknesses or the challenges side um

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certainly attracting retaining new commercial growth industrial growth is a real challenge. Um my sense is that CHS are very largely built out at this point. >> Absolutely. >> So we have that component and we have and you have the situation with the the

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sewer moratorium on on new sewer hookups which is a real challenge. Um um and then I would I would add to the challenges and this is true in other towns especially right now the shrinking labor

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force. The labor market in municipal world is just continues to get smaller and smaller as more senior employees retire. there are fewer employees filling those roles and coming into the into the municipal world especially on

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the fi in the finance uh side of things the finance jobs um so I was I was happy to see that in the strategic plan there was an emphasis on um employee recruitment and retention and professional development so so you're

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already thinking about these things which I think is terrific so So, how would you engage with the town meeting reps to prepare them for town meeting? >> Well, what I what I've done with success in Hudson is to host leading up to each

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of the town meetings, host sessions to review the warrant with them. And we Hudson has an open town meeting form of government. Um, but I've been surprised over the years at the turnout. I can remember I've been doing this now for a few well four years

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I suppose it was my second year that I implemented those the forum to review the warrant. I would have probably 40 to 50 um residents come and it was informal. They could ask questions. We could talk about what is free cash, what is a levy limit, what does excess levy

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capacity mean? All these terms that they might be reluctant to ask during town meeting. But in that environment, um it was a great opportunity for the back and forth and and so you know they'd ask why you why you re recommending this and not this and it was just great to have them

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to prep them for for town meeting. >> I agree it's important we have pre-T town meeting and that's seemed to was kind of helped move town meeting along as those nights as you can imagine get very >> very long and very repetitive. >> Sure. Fortunately, that helps to

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mitigate some of that. As you know, we've been very fortunate and we haven't had to do this very often. So, if you did get the job, how long do you see yourself staying with the town? If I were if I were given the privilege to be hired as your next town manager, I would

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like to finish my career here in Shelmsford. I have 10 more years left in my career, a career I've loved, and I'd be willing to um finish my career at a really positive positive way here in Shelford.

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>> That's about all I have. >> Okay. John, do you have anything? >> No, I I've I've seen uh Mr. Gregory uh before and and uh he's he's very good at responding to the questions that we've had. >> Okay, Dave, how about you? Um just can

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you give me a little bit on why you want to leave Hudson? I mean for the rest of the group here that would be beneficial maybe. >> Sure. Um there's been some turnover on the board in Hudson in the last couple of years. Um and it really comes down to

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priorities and alignment um and a little bit of a little bit of personality in the mix there. Um there's just a the new turnover on the board. There's some members who are looking in different directions, want to try some different things. Um,

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I had a solid performance review just recently and it was during that review when I had announced that I' I'd be um I would be I have another year left on my contract, but I wouldn't be looking for another renewal. Um, because I I believe

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that the the new composition of the site board is looking to go in a in a different direction. Um and it's about alignment really between the board and myself. >> Okay. Um just one more question. Can you

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give me your strategy for 30, 60, 90 days and then your expectations after that? >> Sure. Excuse me. The first 30 days I tried to be out meeting with the departments and the staff as as best I can. meeting with

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the school superintendent, his staff, um getting to up to speed with the select board and getting to to know each of you. Um uh and if I if I were hired, this would be out, you know, into the fall time

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frame. Um, I'd be learning I'd be trying to get up to speed on the um the fall annual town meeting um and the capital plan that's the five-year capital plan that's being presented um at that time. Um and to that and to that end speaking

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with the department heads about those capital needs and how you know how are they arrived at what's the priority you know what are your other needs capital needs and then it wouldn't be long before um we'd be right into the budget season and and I would see that starting

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in November right um getting um getting engaged with what the department need departments need operationally for fiscal 28 8. I would want to be starting that as early as I could given um I know the budget is filed with um the select

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board in the first week in February. It was February 5th last year or this year. Um and so there's a relatively short window there for a new manager to come in to to get um to get his head around the the operational needs of the community

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in a way that that that I could be presenting it. um confidently and accurately to the community. Um so that would be my you know that would be 60 days. I would I suppose 60 days and then 90 days would be preparing for the for

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the spring u annual town meeting and all of the work that's involved in that which is a as you all know is a a big undertaking. >> Thank you. >> Erin, do you have anything? >> Um yeah, a couple questions. Um thank you again Tom for for joining us

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tonight. Um, just to go back a little bit on the on the budget, you started to to um to get there, but as you well know, like every other town, you know, future year budgets are looking a little bit challenging. Um and I think you very

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well know by now that uh the town values its education system which is where a good portion of the budget goes as well as our you know essential services in terms of fire, police and and DPW. Um so given the the fiscal

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constraints like that the structural constraints with inflation higher than our ability to raise revenue. Um, you mentioned a little bit about, you know, regionalization, which um, which we heard you talk about, but what other things do you do to to look to to

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control spending or how do you how do you reduce smartly without impacting some of those key services? Um, and and what are some of your ideas for um, you know, raising revenue in in other manner? I know you mentioned also commercial redevelopment, but to your

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point, we're a little built out. So it >> it's a complex problem um that that the town manager the next town manager and the town are going to have to face in the coming 3 to 5 years. >> Right. The absolutely and the hardest part I think is um given the limitations

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around commercial development and those opportunities. It really comes down in my mind to how do you how do you make how do you how are you the most efficient with um dollars and and in and the sal and the wage pressure is the other big push

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here um on the budget. And so um it's a real challenge. It's a challenge on the one hand to to find to to ensure that the town is is competitive in the labor market, but at the same time um

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keeping the um salary inc increases to a reasonable level that the town can afford. That's always the hardest part in my mind because it's the salaries that are the largest part in the budget. um the binding arbitration with the JLMC is another very difficult you know

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difficult um pressure on the operating budget. So I I think finding ways to be efficient with dollars, finding ways to consolidate services with internally if that's possible is another way to um stretch

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those dollars. Uh but it's very it's very very difficult right now without question. >> Okay. Um, and one more as as we've talked about in in some of the earlier interviews too, right? Uh, there's no question that that under Paul's

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leadership, um, there's there's a really solid foundation here in Chelmsford and and, you know, he didn't do it alone. You know, he had he had, um, you know, John and Darlene and Christine and a whole bunch of other people and a lot of boards and committees that supported that. But, you know, what's left now,

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what what we sit with now is a um a really solid foundation in our municipal government. Um so, I'd be curious to know um well, to be very clear, I'm not interested in anybody upsetting that Apple card. It's a foundation. My thought or my desire is that you'd build

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upon that. Um so, what what do you see as your best opportunities to build upon that? And um what's your vision? What's Tom Gregory's vision for, you know, Chelford over the theoretical next 10 years? >> years.

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>> Well, the first part of the question I'll answer by saying it's it's all about making investments in people, investments in the staff, investments in department heads, uh making sure that they understand that the work that they do is meaningful, right? Because again,

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the success is shared amongst the organization. So I that's something I've always been I've always tried to be intentional about having the having the employees understand that I want them to know that their work is meaningful right at any level of the organization right

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and so um that comes from paying them a competitive wage u and it comes from it comes from even the little things daytoday knowing you know in the interactions with your employees knowing that you care about their work and I think the organiz organizations that

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have this this strong foundation are the organizations that invest strongly and intentionally in people every day. Um, as far as the 10-year vision question,

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um, I'd like to see the town continue to maintain its emphasis on fiscal stability, fiscal discipline, and and really never letting up in that regard. Um, I think that's been the, as from

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what I can tell, that's been the model that's worked effectively here in this town. It's the model I look to pursue every year to find ways to to to use the public funds as efficiently and effectively as possible from year to

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year to year. And it doesn't mean that you can't be flexible and nimble about, you know, um, finding ways to address different priorities, but the core is about fiscal discipline and I think it's what's led to Chumsford's success to

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this point and I think it would continue to lead Chumsford in the years to come and there needs to be in my opinion there needs to be that I I think that collective thought amongst the policy makers uh, around that.

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>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Um John Susie, do you have any questions you'd like to ask Tom? >> No, thank you. Uh I think we've covered a lot of ground, but I I don't have any at this time. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Um so Tom, as I said, I'm going to give you an opportunity to

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to to wrap up and give us a a an uh a sense for how you how you'd run the town. And others have asked about your 30, 60, 90day or 10 year plan as part of your presentation. If you could just tell us what you do in your first week. >> Oh, sure. First week. First week on the

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job if I'm given that opportunity. Um, I'd learn my way around the building. >> Okay. That's important. and uh you know just getting getting out and learning and meeting people meeting people in the building and and getting my getting my feet under me getting a

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sense of of of the documents that I need to start looking at and mastering and digesting and that takes time that will take time. Um it would be a balancing act of sort of researching and and meeting with you uh and and at the same

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time getting out to meet the people in the in the organization. Um that that would be my first week. >> Okay. >> Um but but as far as my sort of you know uh sort of closing closing statement I suppose um again I want to thank you so

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much for giving me this opportunity to be here tonight. It means a lot to me. Uh I'm very very excited in this position. I I'm confident I have the the well-rounded skills in this job to really contribute to to uh jumps for

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success, financial management, procurement, uh project management, HR. Um, and so I'm I'm excited to bring those um skills to this community and I think I could really make a meaningful

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impact in the in the in the 10 years to come and so um I would just in you know you know ask for your consideration in in and as you deliberate. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for coming in. So um we are going

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to bring in our second candidate and we ask that you not stay in this room while while we interview him. He did he did not come in while we were talking to you. Um and we should have you know some kind of um resolution I guess you could say by the end of this this evening and

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um I have your phone number so I'll give you a call and let you know um what we're doing you know how how we're going to go forward from from this day forward. So >> very good. um appreciate you coming in and uh you know enjoy the rest of the evening. There's still a lot of evening

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left this uh during this time of summer. So >> thank thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we're going to wait for James to bring in our second candidate and

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go from there. Madam Chair, James tells me that he's on the way. >> Okay. I didn't know that. >> No. >> Took a long way. >> Yeah. Welcome.

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>> Thank you. >> You can have a seat and pour yourself some water. >> Okay, great. How's everyone doing? >> Thank you. >> So, I'll just give you a quick rundown on on how we're going to proceed this evening. Uh, I'll give you a a few

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minutes to introduce yourself and then we'll begin the questioning. I'll start with the questioning um and then Jeff Hardy to my immediate right will then go to the questioning since we're the ones that were not part of the screening committee uh we'll have the most questions um and if the if some of the

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answers you give are repetitive you feel they're competitive I mean um repetitive not competitive repetitive to what you answered at the during the screening committee that's okay because it would be the first time Jeff and I are hearing it and then I'll give the three members who were part of the screening committee an opportunity to question you also and

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at the end give you an opport opportunity to um make a closing make closing remarks and what you're going to do for the town going forward. So with that, I'll let you start by introducing yourself uh as much or as little as you want.

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>> Very good. Okay. Um good evening everyone. My name is Alex McGee. Uh I'm thrilled to be here as a candidate um to be your next town manager. I've worked in municipal government in Massachusetts for a little over 14 years. um in a

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number of different capacities. Starting in the city of Lel as an administrative assistant, working my way up through the city of Lel um was there for about almost nine years. Had an opportunity then to move on to the town of Hamilton as their finance director. Um it was a

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good opportunity. Hamilton had very different issues than LOL had. Um, I learned a lot um about sort of resource constrained environments and how to uh function in a place that had just sort of it didn't have many bodies in town hall. There's less people to do the same

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number of jobs. Um, after a couple years of that um I found an opportunity to work in the town of Arlington um as their deputy town manager and finance director. Um, Arlington has very

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complicated finances. Um, and it was a great experience. Um, while I was there, um, we So, Arlington has a structural deficit and they are a fully built out community, 95% residential, um, only

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about 4% commercial, um, industrial, and so they rely on overrides periodically. And so so understanding and learning that cadence of how their their finances function uh was a great learning experience for me. Um we passed an override while I was there. Um and so

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you know a lot of experience uh on that um in that sort of really difficult financial um challenged community there. Um they also had an um a high school project that was going on while I was there for the whole tenure. Um it wrapped up right at my the end of my

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tenure there. um a $290 million MSBA project. It was great. Um served on the school building committee. Um it was that was a great experience as well. Um also have sort of previous MSBA experience while I was in Lel. Um both,

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you know, on the early stages of that high school project and also on a number of accelerated repair program projects. Um we did a number of concurrent projects at the same time. there was a gap in applications for the accelerated

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repair that we um sort of we discovered I guess and then um you know we brought it to the city manager and she said absolutely you can go ahead and apply for these you know projects and uh we need we need all the help we can get. they had a great reimbursement rate on them. And so, um, I think in the first

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year I applied to like 27 projects that were eligible for, um, you know, the accelerated repair program. You can apply for boiler, uh, replacement programs or roof, um, programs. And so, we ended up getting eight projects the first year for a total of about 13.5

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million in grant funds. And then the next year we were awarded another, I think, 10 or 11 million. So, a lot of experience um with MSBA and sort of both of their programs uh and how to navigate those. Then um had an opportunity to

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move to the town of Andover after a couple of years in Arlington. um took the opportunity um you know I wanted to learn from a town manager who had a finance background who had been uh more experienced uh and while I was in

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Andover they they moved and did a financial department reorganization and so my position was eliminated um however great experience in Andover also I'm proud of the work that I did there um you know left the place in better shape

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than when I arrived um and So, you know, I've been accumulating skills and building towards this moment over the last 14 years. Um, I have built out a well-rounded toolkit. Um, and I am, you know, I happen to live next door. You

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know, I live 10 minutes down the road in Westford. My family and I spend a lot of our free time in Chumsford through um, you know, evening activities, sports, volunteering, that sort of thing. Um, and so this opportunity is very unique and I think that the fit for me

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personally is fantastic. And so, um, that's a bit about my background and why I think I'm right for this role. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, just, uh, to begin with, um, how involved, if you were to get this position, how involved do you think you'd become with the general community? I mean, what what

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kind of events would you, uh, anticipate attending? Um, would you participate in? Would you take leadership roles in and things like that? >> Sure. Yeah. Um, you know, I think I'd be very involved with them. Um, we already are, you know, I say we, my family, but

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me also, we're in very involved in the community already. Um, you know, I serve on a a board of a nonprofit that we um that we attend um routinely here in town. Um, the library that we go to is the Challenger Library. We're just This

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is sort of where we spent we end up spending our time is in town. Um, you know, we my wife who's a runner and my daughter, they run in the Fourth of July race and um, you know, we go to the parade almost every year. Um, you know, so very involved. It sort of comes with

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the job. Getting out front and being involved is something that I look forward to. um you know there's a fine line that you need to that you need to take uh between not getting uh out front where the spotlight is shining on you but you're

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still meaningfully contri contributing meaningfully and so that's where I would try to find myself is on that line where you know I I would be very involved um you know in events you know boards and committees um you know I understand that

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um you know volunteers who are giving their oftentimes have day jobs and so they they're only able to eat to meet in the evenings and so um you know something that I've become very accustomed to is attending night meetings and um you know that comes with the territory um and you know those are

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critical to an organization like this uh you know to to their success um is to to give your volunteers you know on your boards and committees um you know the respect they deserve by showing up and meeting with them. Um so, you know, so

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that's sort of one side of the coin and the other one, you know, are the fun events. And um you know, my family comes to these things and they look forward to them and love them. And so, um it's just something that, you know, we've they've grown up doing over the last few years with me. Um and they look forward to all

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the sort of work events that I have. And so, uh it's something that I would really look forward to to carrying forward. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, as you as you may know, um, this board periodically meets with our legislative delegation, probably typically twice a year, and that consists of three, um, state

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representatives and one and one senator. Um, so, um, how how often do you think would be, um, appropriate to meet with this with the state delegation? How would you do it? What kind of ideas would you bring or thoughts, concerns would you bring to them from the town?

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And how would you approach them that way? Yeah, I I think that having standing routine meetings is important. Um, but you know, you need the the flexibility and the relationships in order to to be able to reach out when when there's an issue that you need to

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talk about. Um, I do know two of the reps here fairly well. Um, you know, Jim Marciero and Rodney Elliott, who I worked with when I was in the city of Lel. Um, and you know, have relationships with both of them already. um you know and that's the benefit to

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that is that I'm able to reach out to them if there's an issue you know right now um you know I could call them and you know wouldn't have to start from ground zero which is important um but you know h having standing meetings so a couple times a year is great um you know you can talk about sort of what's going

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on at the state what's going on in town but then um you know more in more often more frequent informal meetings I think would be important also um with individual members of the delegation um I think that that would pay dividends to uh the town. I think that it would also pay dividends to the representatives and

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the state senator. Um you know, for them to sort of have a good finger on the pulse of what's going on. Um you know, it it only benefits the town to have strong relationships with your delegation. Um you know, when you've got things in the MSBA pipeline, having a

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strong relationship with your delegation really helps out. um you need them to help help you navigate the MSBA's sort of um procedures. Um and I I have found that having you know when I when we were in LOL um having those strong relationships really really helped that

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process. So um it's something that I would put a premium on um you know would be to develop those and to retain sort of the relationships that I already do have. >> Okay. In any of your prior positions, have you had any experience with um um approaching the legislators for

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earmarks? And if so, you know, were you successful? >> Yeah. Yep. Um yeah. So, every so so on the you know, the sort of the financial calendar um we've got earmark season that comes up and um and I've worked with um our delegates, you know, to say, "Hey, these are the priorities that, you

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know, that the town would love to see." and um you know the the the representatives depending on sort of their who they're representing they have to go in and then rep prioritize their list. And so having having a strong relationship with your representatives um is is very important when you when

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you're looking at earmarks. Um so yes, I have had a number of um you know successful earmark requests um that have come that have gone to fruition um and turned into grants. Um it's fantastic. It's like, you know, extra capital dollars is basically what I look at it

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as. And they come in and they allow you to achieve something that you may not be able to achieve otherwise. And it's um it's hugely important to a community to get that money from the state. Um you know, when I was in Arlington, we had um we had a project in our downtown that uh

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we relied on earmarks for three consecutive years to help um get over the finish line. And that it was like a huge win. you know, we got the extra I think it was a total of like $400,000 over those three years to get it over the line and get it completed. And so, um, being able to sort of be fluent in

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how the how that process works and having the relationship with your representatives is very important. >> Okay. Um, how would you handle uh communications with with the media, both social media and news media? um if you if you um how would you respond to a positive or a negative story that's that

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you see on either one of those uh those sources? >> Yeah, it's a good question. Um it's probably just as much art as it is science. Um and you know, I don't know that there's ever truly a right way to answer that, but um you know what you

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want to do is you want to ensure that you become, you know, that I become sort of the spokesperson. um you know, I'm the one that is able to channel the information for our organization. Um you know, if they're hearing it from me, then that means that it is a truth,

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right? And so, um not weighing in on every little thing. um when you have requests from the media then um you know whether that's a one-off or if you need to set up a press conference and have something and then um you know you know if there's some sort of an an event that happens like a natural disaster or

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something then having sort of a standing uh you know we're going to be giving updates every two hours at this location and then that just lets the media know that you know this is when I can get sort of the standing updates from our trusted source right um you never want to get in do a back and forth on

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Facebook. You never want to um you know, I would never be responding um to anything on Facebook or anything like that. Proactively pushing messaging out on Facebook is one thing, but then getting into um you know, a back and forth is doesn't serve anyone well. Um you know, once in a while there may be a

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situation where something grows legs and can take off and if if if it would require a correction on Facebook, something like that that you know, you could maybe make the case for that. But um you know finding the the right cadence on communicating is important. You don't want to be putting every

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little thing out there, but you also don't want to be only putting something out every once a month because then you become stale. You know um people get their news through Facebook and social media nowadays. And um you know like the over the weekend the parade like you guys had a really good Facebook presence

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on that and that's important and people can go there and find information. I went there and found information, right? And so um finding the right sort of cadence is important. Um and you know it just it takes time to sort of develop. Um but once you develop it, you don't want to ever lose that momentum because

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people they know that they can go there and and find information and what they find is going to be important. Um, and so you don't ever want to, um, you know, leave yourself becoming stale where you're not pushing out enough information, but you also don't want to be pushing out, you know, every little

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thing like people might not necessar necessarily care about the, um, the sort of, you know, tedious things that are ongoing. So, um, you know, finding the right rhythm and then staying steady with it is the most important thing with communications.

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>> Okay. Yeah, that was kind of part of my question was going to be too about would you ever initiate a a story to the news media and it sounds like like you do but you just want to limit how much you do rather than right >> there can be too much aso as in addition to too little >> right yeah definitely there are times

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you know we don't we probably don't celebrate successes enough and uh just in general but you know in our world especially we probably don't do that enough and so you know showcasing the good is something that we should really do you know we need to shine a light on the good things that are happening ing in our organization. Um, and that would

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be important. You know, a press release, um, or, you know, just pushing things out on social media, that's great. It lets people know what's going on in their government. Um, and, you know, what we're doing. You know, it shows the sort of the value of, you know, of their tax dollars at work. Um, and so, you

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know, I think that there's a huge importance in proactive communications. Um, not necessarily just responding to issues. um you know and finding sort of the right cadence and um you know what works for here is something that I you know I really highly value that. >> Okay. Thank you.

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>> Uh so as you know Chwoodford like many communities around here we're facing challenging economic times coming up. Um and there's there's there's ways to approach that. You can you can look for ways to raise revenue or you can look for ways to reduce expenses. Which would you focus on and how would you focus on

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each of those? >> Yeah. Um that is the million-dollar question. I mean maybe it's a $3 million question, right? It's um or more. Yeah. Um but but it's a big question and it's a real challenge that everyone is facing. I mean every community is has resource constraints and um you know the

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way that I would tackle this is I'd look at both things. I mean you both are just revenue and expenditures are just as important as the other because each one moves the needle in a different direction, right? So we need to look at our revenues, you know, working with Mr. Souza and say are are we are we

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projecting our revenues accurately enough where we're not leaving something on the table right um it's important that we make sure that we ensure that we are if we're overcolcting every year on one of our local receipts that might be an opportunity to increase that category a little bit and give ourselves a little

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more wiggle room on the revenue side. Um you know generating new growth um that is a challenge that is you know driven you know there's a lot that goes into it. it's um you know the larger economic conditions in the you know the region and the country at large those have you

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know a huge impact on that but also your sort of local growth policies and um you know how you manage your growth um you you know that that matters and makes a difference on your sort of the economic growth locally right so setting revenue aside then you look at your expenditures

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right so what are you spending your money on um it's important that you take a critical eye every single year at your budgets and say what are we spending our money on? Are we spending it in the right way? Are we overbudgeted anywhere? Do we need to make cuts? And every year, you should be able to consider drawing

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something back. I mean, there's no reason that you should always be spending money in an area just because that's what you've always done. You should take um an approach where you're you're looking at your programming, you're trying to um make sure that you know what you're spending your money on, you're delivering excellent value to

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your residents. Um the programming still makes sense how it's being delivered. uh there's not a way to sort of find new efficiencies on that existing programming, right? So, I think you need to take a holistic approach to looking at both revenues and expenditures when you're talking about budgets. Um it is

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an every year thing. Um you know, when you've developed the number of budgets that I have, it's something that you go through, Mr. Soua, every year, you know, that you're going through this exercise when you're building your budget. um you you need to look at every expenditure and sort of every dime that's planned to

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go out the door. Is this something that we're actually going to spend and do we think that we're going to be getting good value when we spend this? Because if you have a question about it, then you may want to, you know, peel the onion back a little bit and and make a decision whether you want to consider reducing that budget or find other ways

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to be more efficient in how you spend. Um you know, there are other creative things you can do. We can um you know, I know a number of our neighbor neighboring town managers here. We can look at, you know, efficiencies. We could find um, you know, through intermunicipal agreements. You know, there may be efficiencies that I don't

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know if they've been fully explored where we could go and, you know, we could find operational savings by combining forces with some of our neighbors also. So, there's, you know, there may be room out there. I've had success doing that in some of my previous stops as well. >> Okay. Yeah, that was another part of the question, too. I mean we do have

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regional agreements with several abuing communities linksboro even even Bill Ricka which surprises a lot of people but we we do good. Um do you have any any suggestions on on you know maybe regionalization that you've done in the past that would benefit

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>> Chford? Yeah. Um sort of and I don't know exactly what you're what you do here but animal control is one that we had that we yep um that was great. When I was in Hamilton, we created the first sort of in the eastern Massachusetts

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shared assessing program. Um it was something that I, you know, helped design uh conceptualize and design and um it was, you know, with our neighboring community, Winnham. We shared a single director of assessing and then each office had an assistant. Um, and so, you know, really what that

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allowed us to do was, you know, meet our sort of requirement of having a director of assessor who really knew what they were doing and then each office was staffed enough to where we could get, um, you know, the sort of the day in and dayout work done that was needed. Um so

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uh I don't think that that kind of a model would work here but finding that kind of a create creative um you know outlet and looking in places where it there may not be existing models is something that I'd be excited to do. um you know taking a look and say all right what are you know let's turn over some

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new rocks and say you know these are maybe some areas where we can find some new efficiencies that may not exist and you know my relationships with these other town their their managers would really help that I think um you know I know basically all the neighbors you

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know very well uh for years and um you know it would be a good opportunity to work together. >> Okay. um kind of to get to some of your staff relationships. Um being a new town manager, you're going to have a lot of tasks that you'd probably want to

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delegate and you're also going to have a lot of new department heads and others that you can delegate those tasks to. How would you determine which task to delegate and how would you feel you have the trust in some in those folks that are working for you to to do the delegation? >> Yeah, that that's like that's a critical

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question. It's a great question. Um you know I have learned over the years sort of as I've matured and gone to more responsible positions that um you need to delegate and celebrate right you need to hand things to people and trust them to do the job um but you know the key is

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entrusting them right that trust is it it needs to be earned it can't be given and so early on in my relationships with um with department heads and staff it'll be about building trust and building the relationship um you know I know that walking in the door I'm going to have to trust people and delegate and it's going

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to be you know it's going to be on me and them to develop those relationships um to to really build that trust early knowing that um you know the the sort of business isn't going to take a pause because a new person is walking in the door you know it's all it's you know

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full speed ahead once we have a a new person in the town manager's office and so you know how I would do that is um you know I'd meet directly with each of our department heads um It would be one-on-one. You know, the most critical meeting would be with John Souza. Um, you know, he would be the most important

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partner that I would have in that um in sort of especially in that early part of that transition. Um, you know, he's been the finance director here forever. That's a language that I speak. Um, and you know, currently as the town manager, he would be the most important person

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that I could really build a relationship with. Um, and then you go through the organization and you look at, all right, you know, everyone is important. All of our department heads are important, but where are the places that I need to meet with early and where do I need to sort of, um, step in and really start

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establishing those relationships? And, you know, I think public safety, um, public works, those are areas that would be sort of the next, um, most important sort of series of meetings for me to understand sort of, you know, all right, what's going on? what's the um sort of situation on the ground with all of your

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uh various operations? Um you know, I I do know our DPW director Christine Clancy um from our time that we worked together in LOL and um I would not have to build, you know, a new relationship with her. You know, I I trust her innately already because I know she's a

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a very capable person and so um you know, working off of that sort of existing relationship would sort of be a springboard, I think. Um but you know with police and fire, I know you have a new police chief. Um there have been some you know challenges in fire and so

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being able to build the build the relationship with public safety chiefs. I don't think uh any more important relationship exists especially in times of crisis than your public safety um you know your department heads there. So um you know that would be how I would

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prioritize the work. Um unfortunately you can't meet with everyone individually all at once. Um but you know and then we'd work our way through the organization after that. Um you know there's there's never a shortage of things to do and um especially when I'd be early on in my tenure. Um but it it

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would be you know a chance you know over this you know hopefully summer to really just um you know build the relationships figure out where is everyone's operations and then um you know start delegating you know tasks and parts of the portfolio to them. So, uh, so I

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guess what you're saying is that Christine Clancy is going to have a head start on that from >> She's already miles ahead of everyone. So, yeah. >> So, I guess the question, >> we think so. She's very good. >> I I guess the question is, um, how do you keep those relationships level so that Christine Clancy doesn't come way

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out here and then, you know, the others follow some further on down the line. >> It's like, um, in a weird way, it's like you don't have a favorite child, right? It's you you have everyone you I have an open door policy. um everyone gets the attention that they deserve and every

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pro there is no program that's necessarily more important than another one. It's just something we we have to create a prioritized list and so some things naturally will fall higher on your priorities but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily more important than something else. you know, like um you know, to to many residents, the

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library is the most important program that exists here. And and that's great, you know, because libraries are an awesome thing. And so um you know, being able to to sort of to retain that importance and make sure that all my department heads feel that they are um

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being treated equally is very important to me. um you know in places that I have worked my the town managers there have always modeled that and they've treated all department heads with with um sort of great respect and it's something that I would emulate also. Um it it's you

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know it's important to me that you you know not only do I res do I you know build the trust and respect for with my with my department heads but that they you know send the same feelings back to me as well. Um and and I understand that that is earned also. It's not you know that's not something that's going to be

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given to me. you know, I would be the new person walking in the door. Um, you know, so it's something that I will work on and, you know, I've had great success in, you know, building teams and developing people. It's something that I I do. I'm naturally, um, you know, a people person, we'll say. Um, and so,

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you know, it's something that I look forward to is, you know, building those relationships. It's what makes work fun is the people that you work with, um, and the projects that you do. And so being able to um build those and you know really tackle the work together is what makes this such an interesting

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career. >> Okay. Okay. That's all I have for now. So Jeff, it's all yours. >> Okay. In your uh letter to the board, you mentioned the AAA bond rating which the people in this building are extremely proud of and they should be as we are proud of our double double A

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board member here. I'm saying what do you see as the strengths of chood and how would you enhance them and what do you see as our weaknesses and how would you improve those? >> Yeah. So, so retaining a AAA bond rating is critical. Um it is, you know, it's

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rightfully a source of pride. It it's hard fought and one and I know that um you know, retaining that is is a high priority and it would be for me too. Um you know, I've worked since being in LOL, I've worked in three AAA rated communities and retained those ratings.

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the you know for my entire tenure um you know I know what goes into it you need strong finances strong financial policies and you need to obey your financial policies like they are the rules that you must follow okay uh rating agencies they look at the these things they say all right what are your policies and are you meeting them are

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you following them and the answer has to be yes um if you're not then what's the point of having those policies right so um I would say that your your strengths right now are that you are in good financial shape um even though a weakness is a structural deficit that

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exists, but you're in good financial shape. Um that it's very appealing to me. You have 10% of your um budget is in a stabilization account. That is fantastic. You know, that's great shape. That's been hard fought, I would imagine, over the years. Um you're in

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good shape on pension, pretty good shape on OPED. um giving, you know, appropriating enough money on OPED every year already, you're probably ahead of um some of the communities that I've worked already. Um you know, you have a pension funding date in 2037, which is

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in good shape. We'll see what the next actuary study says. Um if that needle has moved up or down, um markets have been good over the last year in general, so maybe that date has shifted a year sooner. um you know so so what I would

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say your strengths are um you know your general financial condition are good here um or is good here um you don't seem to be blowing money on stupid things which is fantastic um we don't want to be wasteful um it's amazing

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sometimes you I see what you know some communities are buying or um you know what they're funding and I scratch my head and say you know why how can they do that um knowing sort of the financial challenges that do exist everywhere. Um, you know, weaknesses, you know, I don't

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want to point point to anything as a weakness without really thoroughly walking, you know, a mile in in your shoes, but um, you know, a structural deficit is a structural deficit. And, um, you know, being $3 million underwater uh, is something that needs

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to be addressed one way or the other. And so, you know, that could be through um, you know, trying to generate more revenues, trying to peel back expenses. You do have money in stabilization. So, if you absolutely needed to, you could lean into that um, in order to meet obligations. There's just a number of levers that you can pull. And so, you

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know, it take a really thoughtful amount of study and conversation to to really get there and make those, you know, make those moves. So, um, that is generally my answer, I guess. >> Okay. So I'm sure you're aware we are a uh elected town meeting representative

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town. So my question is how would you some of those town meeting reps can be rather passionate at times. How would you engage with them leading into town meeting? >> Um so it's a great question and it is a unique animal. Um Arlington is a representative town meeting community

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and there's not too many of them uh in the state but Arlington has 250 town meeting members. It's a big town meeting. There's um there are 250 elected people in town and so um it becomes uh you know and and the town

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meeting in Arlington routinely goes you know eight to 10 sessions for three hours per session it's a very long uh town meeting um in the spring they they only have one unless they have a special which is in the fall they don't always have specials but um the annual town meeting in the spring it's a bear it's

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long um and there are um like you put it there's some passionate members of town meeting Um and you know the way what I have found um the best way to sort of engage with them is early and often. Um so I don't want to be surprised by

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something on the floor of town meeting. Um there are going to be town meeting members who will deserve meetings, personal meetings ahead of time. Um there may be opportunities for me to join um precinct meetings, that sort of thing ahead of time. um you know

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communicating pushing communications out from my office um on financial matters early um so they get a good look at things um and then it give them space for questions before town meeting um I think that you can avert any sort of um big issues on the floor if you try to

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get ahead of that um you know that's proactive communication when it when it helps and when it works um you know there may be you know I don't know if there are here in Arlington there were town meeting members who sometimes they just wanted to fight. And um sometimes

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on the floor of town meeting, it's blood sport and people enjoy it. And um some of the town meeting members, they really do love um you know, it's it's something that they love, you know, that the process of being a town meeting member and um you know, discussing and arguing over issues. That's great for them. And

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um sometimes you need to sit back and watch the show. And other times you need to uh get in there and help sort of um steer things. So, in a nutshell, that's my answer. >> Okay. Well, it's a really good answer, Mike. >> Um, so, as you know, we've only had to

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go through this process twice in over 40 years. My question is, if you were to get this position, how long do you see yourself staying here? >> Yeah, I'd love for this I said this in in the screening committee, I would honestly love this to be the last job interview I ever have. We lived right

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next door. Um, you know, you have been so lucky to have two really good town managers over 40 years. It's almost unheard of that kind of a cadence and I would love to continue that tradition. Um, you know, it's somewhere my roots are already down here. It's not somewhere that I would need to um, you

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know, to learn how to navigate the region and the town. I mean, you know, I'm already here. Um, you know, I I would love to I would love nothing more than to to work here for the next 20 plus years. I mean, it would just be this is like the kind of job that I've

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searched for my whole career, like for working for so long to find something like this. And to have it here now is just incredible to me. And so, um, it's it it is, you know, it's incredible. It'd be it'd be a fantastic opportunity

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for me to to really um, you know, spread my wings here. And um, I'd love to be here for the next 20 plus years, >> 21 even. I don't know if I'll still be sitting here just >> you want any questions?

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>> Yeah. Um, Alex, you were one of our first interviews and uh at that time you uh indicated that uh uh you were searching other communities for other positions and um

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uh we did not know how that went when we uh decided that you would be one of our finalists. Um and uh Chairman Cunningham uh contacted you and uh uh we found out that you had been offered another job in

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a different community and I'm not really concerned about what happened or the specifics unless you feel like you want to tell us about them to some degree. Uh but uh you are here today

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and I'd like you to explain why you're here today and why you are not taking that other position. >> Yeah. So it's been it it was a very challenging decision to walk away from an opportunity in another town which is

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by all accounts a great town, you know, um and I'm not going to name them if that's okay, but you know, as a town Yep. But as the town administrator, you know, in another town, um, you know, um, you know, they had offered me the job and we had talked about, you know, what it was going to look like. And, um, then

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after that, I found out that I was going to have an opportunity to be a finalist here. And, um, you know, then it got real. It was like, okay, what do we what are we going to do? Are we going to take the bird in the hand, you know, that in a in a good town or am

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I going to place a bet on myself and, you know, believe in myself and go where to the opportunity that I really, really want, you know, something that I've wanted for my whole career. Um, and you know what? After talking it over with my

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wife and with, you know, sort of my inner circle of people, everyone said, "You, you know, you got to go for go for the chump job. It's what you really want." And, um, it it was it was a tough it was a tough decision, you know, to

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walk away from a sure thing, you know. Um, but, you know, this is what I really want. And, um, you know, so yeah, I walked away from it for the chance to be your next town manager. And um it's I I know I made the right decision because I would have regretted it forever had I

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not made that decision. And the upside is just so much greater for me um to be here. And so um you know I took a weekend to sort of think about it. Um it was a big decision in sort of sort of on my life and my career trajectory. Um and

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the sort of the what if um you know may happen. Whatever happens happens you know. But, you know, I I I put a bet on myself because I believe the fit is so good here for me and um I I believe that I'm the right person for this job.

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>> Thank you, >> Dave. >> I am all set. Thank you, Alex. >> Um so, Alex, just a fantastic answer, by the way. So, I don't want to I don't want to derail that, but I I do want to go back to um you know, the the budget

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question that I like to ask. So, as we've discussed in in the other interviews and stuff like that, you know how important education is to the town. You know how important that, you know, our public service departments, police, fire, and DPW are are properly staffed

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and and funded. Um, and as you've said, we have these structural deficit challenges. Um, and I think you've given some good answers on those. Um but I want to talk about the relationship with um and the relationship you'd look to build with the superintendent. So much

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of the budget is the school. Right. So sitting down with Dr. Lang and saying here's here's the pie. How are we going to divvy it? Um because all those essential functions have to happen. Right. >> Right. Um and we have to fund the schools. So, um, how do you build a

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relationship there and and, um, and work with Jay to ensure that the funding is where it needs to be on kind of both sides of the the equation? >> That's it's the critical question and sort of the critical issue that exists

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in so many towns is the sort of the split between the school funding and all the other town funding um, all the other departments that get funded. And so, um, luckily, you know, I also have a relationship with Dr. Lang that exists from my time in LOL. We worked together

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there, um, back when I was at Lel. Um, I think that the smartest thing that Chelmstred ever did was hire him. Uh, he is he was fantastic then. Um, by all accounts, he's fantastic still. I haven't talked to him in in a few years, but um, you know, so I would, you know, we would jumpst start our relationship

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again. And um you know if we're if we're facing a situation where we have real dollars that need to disappear from both of our budgets, it becomes a conver a partnership. You know, a conversation between the two of us though. Um you know, like I said earlier, a lot of it um a lot of it comes down to

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relationships. It's a relationship that I would need to cultivate and I would focus on very early in my tenure. Um you know, he he's somebody that I'm going to be on the phone with every week. Um and he's somebody that uh you know we're partners. We're looking at the Parker

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Middle School like that's a partnership with with Jay and I and um you know and we like we need to work through these things together because we're we have a shared destiny in a way. Um you know as as the town manager and the superintendent of schools you know we're

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funded by the same pot of money and so um you know we can't always be the ones that take a haircut on you know when we're facing tough times and they can't either. So, we need to share the pain. Um, and you know, we would work it out. Um, you know, everywhere that I've been

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before, there's always been sort of this it's a natural tension between schools and um, others. And, um, I've found that building that relationship is what makes it work. Um, I've been places where the the relationship is not good and I've been places where the relationship is

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great. And in in Arlington, for example, it was great. um you know working handinhand with the superintendent of schools. You know I as the deputy was routinely in meetings um with her. I was on the school building committee for the high school there. Um you know this the

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the CFO of the schools or the deputy superintendent for finance administration. Um you know we worked all the time together. He was a member of the finance team. I had him you know join our monthly meetings and we spoke weekly about our sort of the issues that

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we face together. Um, building that kind of partnership makes it much easier to the curtain's moving made it made it much easier um to navigate those challenges when you're facing them together with somebody that you know and

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trust. Um, you know, there are going to be times where there where our sort of hopes are in conflict with each other and we need to be able to navigate those uh professionally too and I think that you know we could do that. I know that we could do that.

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Thanks. Um, so my last question is is we spoke a little bit about this probably at length I think during the uh the screenings completely different interview process. Um the as we've mentioned, you know, town manager Cohen

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with a lot of support from the people in this building um and a lot of support from the community and the boards and committees that people volunteer for. Um built a really good foundation as as it's been mentioned number of times. We're in a really good position now. Um

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and as I've said before, I don't want somebody to come in and upset the apple cart. I want you to take that foundation and build upon it. Um, so with that lens in mind, you know, what's Alex McGee's vision? I'm not looking for what Paul's vision was. He got to build his vision.

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What's Alex McGee's vision for Chumsford over the next I think you said 21 years. >> Yeah. Next, it's going to be a great 21 years. Um, so you you know what the vision is is, you know, take what's working and and keep keep it working. You know, don't break something that

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works well. um you know figure out where we're having successes and you know figure out why that is. Do we need to add resources? Are there any extra resources there that could maybe be shifted somewhere else? Um but you know don't break anything that that isn't working and then you know give an honest

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assessment for areas that all right these are places where I think that we could make some improvements. Um you know walk in the door and do an assessment and say all right this is where I think that we might be you know needing help. Like I I think that we need to have a like a reset with our fire labor union, right? And I think

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walking in that would be something that I could do a fresh uh set of eyes. You know, that's not to say that anything was wrong with how uh Paul Cohen was dealing with the union because those are extremely complicated situations and conversations and I've been through

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them. I've been to through the JLMC three times with public safety unions. I understand how complicated it is. But having um an injection of a new person will change the chemistry in the room and it will make it so um so you'll get

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a fresh perspective and uh I don't think that that would be a bad thing. Um so so finding out you know from my department heads all right what's working you know what do you think is going where are you having success and then finding out where they're struggling and um you know

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get the get the details from my people where are the challenges okay all right these are the challenges now we need to find out what resources we have on the table okay now we know what our resources are how can we meet those challenges right and so it becomes um you know an iterative an iterative

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effort on um figuring out where do our department heads who who know this organization better than anyone. They know what they're they know what their department is capable of doing and you know where the shortfalls are. Um and so how do we how do we

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enhance or fix things that aren't working right? And um you know then I'll put my own eyes on things and I'll say okay you know these are areas that you know people may think they're doing great but I think they could be doing better or these are areas where I think that all right we can be more efficient here. Um, and that's, you know, my job

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as town manager is to spot those things and to, um, suggest corrections. Um, and if, you know, those aren't, if those don't work, then, you know, finding new creative solutions to, um, to come into play. So, um, you know, committing to

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making those um, judgment calls is something that I would do. It's difficult because, you know, by all accounts, you guys have had great success over the last 20 years. um having a new person walk in, there's going to be things that I spot that um that I've never done anything that way.

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And there will be it'll be a learning curve for me to say, "Hey, this is great. You guys do this in a fantastic way that I've never seen done before." And there may be times where I can say, "Hey, you know, when I was in Arlington or in Andover, Hamilton, we did this a little bit differently." And um you

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know, suggest that maybe we can pivot a little bit. Um and so, you know, I bring that sort of diversity of perspective. um you know where you know we can find efficiencies and enhancements and you know that's like the best part of this

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job is being a you know being a part of an organization like this there's never a day that repeats itself. You're always in a new situation, new scenario and it's almost like a you know you're practicing. It's like it's it's like a almost like law where you're practicing,

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right? It's you're um you're the your your practice is your organization and um and it's and and it's exciting to watch how you sort of set things up with your department heads and what where you're placing your resources watching

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how they sort of play out and succeed. And so um you know it would take it would take a lot of work with uh myself and the department heads but it's you know that's the exciting part of the job is doing the work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> John Susan, do you have anything you'd

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like to ask uh Alex? >> Thank you for the opportunity. I don't have any questions for Alex at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, now is your opportunity to for any closing remarks or questions and and one thing if you could include it in in those closing remarks. Aaron asked you about what what you'd do in the next 21 years. I want to

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ask what you do in the next in the first week on your job. >> Yeah, I skipped the 21-year part. Um Okay. So, closing remarks. Um, you know, I think that I've tried to um present this so far, but this is this amounts to

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a dream job for me. It it's such a unique scenario and it is uh it's almost cliche to say it, but it's very true for me. It is um you know, I've I've watched over, you know, the years the 14 15 years that I've lived in Massachusetts,

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I've watched how things happen in the communities around me. And Chumsford's always been an exciting community to me. We spend so much of our time here. We're very connected to the community, my family and I. Um, it's a very well-run community.

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It's just the kind of place that I want to be. Um, you know, you guys have strong finances. You have a trip, you're AAA rated. Um, you know, I feel like I'm the right puzzle piece to get dropped in and keep things moving forward. Um, you

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know, I have the skills. I've built them over the years. Um, I have the relationships that work well here. Um, and you know, I would want to be here, like I said, for over 20 years. I really mean that. Um, you know, the first week on the job, um, it would be, you know, a

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lot of it would be spent with John Souza. Um, and talking about, all right, this is where that's probably the first, you know, sort of the first day is, you know, we're sitting together and we're talking and we're building a relationship because we don't know each other. and um you know he would be

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probably my most important um partner you know right off the bat um because he's going to be able to tell me this is where things stand. These are the balls that are in the air. Um these are sort of our current pain points. This is where you know capital projects are. This is where this and that live. Uh these are where the bodies are buried.

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Uh so like there's all these like things that you know I'll have to learn on the um you know on the first you know and it'll take much longer than a week but you know you walk in the door you got to start somewhere and so um you know after that it's meeting with you know probably like a department head meeting to start

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um you know to introduce myself um to you know sort of shake hands and meet everyone um and to set up individual meetings with all the department heads. Um you know starting early not letting that lag would be very important for me. um you know speaking individually with

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each one of you uh board members um you know having private time with each of you to figure out you know what are your priorities um what do you what do you want me to be doing um you know I serve the board um and so you know what do you want me to be focusing on what are your individual priorities and um you know

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and then a step further what are the priorities as a board as a board as a whole um you know and figuring out sort of what is the operating rhythm and um you know what are we how are are you going to move the ball forward? Um so that's you know probably about a week's

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worth of work at least. But um you know that's where things start. Um and then you know it becomes just a progression of that. Um how you know how how often are we going to need to be meeting with each of you? um you know, I'd probably have standing department

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head meetings with my department heads and then there will be certain um department heads that I would probably meet with one-on-one on standing basis and others that maybe not one-on-one on a standing basis or less often. Um and we'll figure out sort of that cadence as time goes. Um you know, I know we have a

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new town accountant starting um sometime soon, I believe. Uh we actually used to work together in Lel also. Um I know Heather fairly well. Um and so um you know sort of reestablishing that relationship. Um, you know, the town accountant plays a vital role in any

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community in making sure that you're be you're holding on to your financial calendar. And so that's uh another um sort of finance thing where I'm very comfortable and that's um you know you guys have done a great job with that here also the finance team. But that,

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you know, with a new accountant coming in, um, that's one that where I would, you know, I'd want to give a little more attention also just to make sure that we're all on the same page. Um, because if you're not, you know, things can fall apart quickly if you run into finance

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issues. Um, but yeah, it it's um, you know, this this job is it's a it would be a dream to to be here. It would be fantastic. You're not going to find anyone that's going to work harder or immerse themselves in the community more than than I will. Um, you know, I want

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to be here uh for a long time. It would be great. Um, you know, and uh yeah, I think I'm I think I'm a great fit and uh I look forward to working with you guys legitimately. >> Okay. Well, thank you very much for

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coming in this evening. Um, so um we're going to ask you to leave the room. You can go home, but how does that go? Um, >> you can't stay here. >> You can't stay here, but >> don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. >> You can't stay here. >> Fair enough. Okay. Um, I thank you all.

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I'm going to just do a quick handshake. >> Okay. And we will be in touch sometime later this evening. One way or the other, just so you don't have to worry about that. >> Nice to meet you. >> Take care. Pleasure to meet you. >> Thank you. See you again.

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Take care. >> Okay. So, we've heard from both candidates. >> Let's close the door. >> Uh, it's an open meeting. >> What? >> So, I think we need to leave the door open. >> Okay. I just didn't want Alex to hear. >> Yeah. Well, well, maybe uh maybe Dean will go out there and make sure he's

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he's gone down the stairs. >> He's standing outside the door like this. >> How did Dean become muscle? >> He looks like a bouncer to me. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, we begin our our discussions, our deliberations on the

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the two candidates. Um our choices are um Thomas, Alex, or send the screening committee back to start their work over again. if you guys could please keep the conversation down. >> Um, so I'm gonna start with you, Erin.

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>> Um, so you're sorry that that you just want to my general thoughts. >> General thoughts or specific thoughts either. >> Sure. Um, I I think you know both candidates um are are qualified. They

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have the technical competencies. Um, I think both would um would assimilate into the into the community. Um, I think with with Tom, you do get somebody that's a little bit more

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seasoned. Um, I feel likely to kind of hit the ground running and likely to to kind of continue the status quo, keep things um, you know, moving forward. um you know, a

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little less time getting up to speed, whereas you know, Alex obviously being um a little bit greener um in his career does bring a tremendously strong um finance background. Um he brings a a

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solid knowledge of uh the community. I I do think he's going to have to candidly grow um uh into the role. Um, and I will say I there were some ways that he answered things um this evening that you

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know reminded me why um you know he was he was selected to be here um in the first place. So I don't I don't think either candidate um would you know a vote either way would be a bad choice. Um but they are different in in those

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sense. Um so I think that's all I have for now unless there's any other questions for me. Dave, any initial thoughts? >> Well, I think it's really great that we saw both candidates tonight at the same time. Initially, we saw Alex on June 8th. So, that was quite a while ago. It

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was good to see the personalities come through a lot clearer here today, at least from my perspective as opposed to trying to remember back to June 8th when we saw Alex and the 23rd of June when we saw Thomas. Uh, both of them very qualified. I think I agree with most of

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the statements you made. I think there was a couple things that Thomas did a little better on specifically around his job tenure. He had a pretty nice job tenure several years. Alex a little less. Uh there were some benefits. Alex is local. He can start pretty much

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immediately. He's also had relationships with other people and those people kind of give me confidence that he'll be able to do a really good job. So, but with that, either candidate is is definitely a a worthy candidate for the job, and either one of them is going to have to

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take some time to learn the role. >> Yeah, >> Jeff. >> Yeah. Um, to echo what everybody's already said, both candidates are very qualified. Going to John's question about him, Alex not taking a different position tells me

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he's already invested in Chumsford, which means a lot to me. um and where he already has relationships for with a lot of the PE department heads etc. I think that the transition would be smooth. That's just my opinion.

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>> Okay, John. >> Okay. First of all, let me say that this process is the only process we've got, but it's really flawed. It's like you're dating someone and it's the first date and they're telling you everything

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that's great and you think, oh, and and over a period of time um and it takes a period of time to understand the true character of the person who you're intending to hire.

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And um it was actually uh I I agree with both everybody else. I think we've got two great candidates. I'm I'm really proud and and I was, you know, when we finished our screening, I was very

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ambivalent about which one I was going to to to support. However, um the fact that their names were published, I started getting phone calls and getting information that I did not

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have. Um, and I started to think about the comments that people were making about the the candidates. Uh, I received a phone call from uh someone who has been very involved in municipal

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government for years. Um, this person knows Chford very well. He knows both of the candidates. He says, "John, you can't go wrong with either one." And

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I said, "Yeah, but you're calling me." And this person said, "Yeah, I think all told the better fit is Alex." That he understands our town better. Uh,

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one of the things that I did not know until he uh, well, I found out in between, but but during the screening process, I did not know uh, that he was involved with a nonprofit in Chumsford. As it turns out, I know a person who was

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on the board of that nonprofit and that person was very enthusiastic about Alex. And that person's statement was, I serve on a board with people who

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have a lot of big egos. Alex is not one of them. And that that told me a lot about his character because, you know, these people who are municipal leaders and whatnot, they can come in and they can they can try to,

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you know, hey, you know who I am. >> First aid. >> Yep. And that's not who he is. and and that was really important to me. Um, obviously, uh, Christine Clancy, I know

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how she would vote if she was on the board. That doesn't necessarily mean I should vote the same way, but she's worked with him and she knows him. And I found out that there's an some other people who have worked with him and are very enthusiastic about his leadership

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style and that the way that he relates to employees and as as Jeff said, how many people who are currently unemployed

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would turn down a firm job offer to take a leap? at getting the position that he really wants. And you know, I don't want to make comparisons about Paul Cohen because

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Alex is not Owen. Um, but Paul Cohen has a lot of the same traits that I see in Alex. and um Alex will will be whatever the town manager is if we choose to pick him.

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But it was telling that this past weekend, Paul Cohen, who served on our parade committee, showed up and he was a member of the Chumsford Rotary. I believe he was driving the the train, you know,

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Thursday Thursday, uh sorry, Friday night. You know, he didn't have to do that. he really is not connected with the town. And then Fourth of July, who shows up but Paul Cohen, who's on the parade

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committee. And I want somebody who has that type of commitment to our town. I want somebody who is dedicated to our town and and who and I just think that

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Alex, this is his dream job. I think he's got all of the um the training over the period of years. You know, it's not it's not the length of time that makes you the leader. It's it's the quality of the time that you spend. And I I just

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think uh that I cannot more forcefully uh recommend that Alex, who knows Jay Lang and has a relationship with him, Aaron, that you feel is so important. Um he knows other people in our town. Uh

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and he has volunteered for a n at a nonprofit that provides uh training and uh sports and educational um uh services to the children of Chsford. I want that guy and that's my position.

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>> Okay. John Susie, do you have any any feedback you'd like to provide? No, I thought they both um you know, they both you could tell they both have a wealth of experience and they presented well. Um given that I would play an integral role in the transition to the new town

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manager, I prefer not to comment on one over the other. >> Sure. >> Because I have to be evenhanded and work with with either one, but I appreciate the opportunity to >> Okay. >> Um so so I I agree that that we did have

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two two good, you know, wellqualified candidates. uh here this evening. Um but I do agree with the two gentlemen on my right that I think Alex um did um shine more than than Tom did. Um this is his

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dream job. I mean he said all the right things and I hope he said all the right things because he really means them. And it seems like he was insincere in what he was saying. Um he seems to have the energy and the fact that he he agreed to stay here for 21 years. I mean that means something too. it's going to

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outlive most of us. >> So, um I mean, you know, not to diminish the the qualifications of Tom because as you said, he is a he is a very qualified person and um you know, I'm sure he'll find a a place to land. So, I guess that

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kind of leads it to uh that seems to be the consensus of the board. So, I would ask the two of you if you want to amend your comments at all or to show more support for Alex or or not.

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>> Um, >> yeah, I I just want to, you know, just to be clear because what the public didn't have the opportunity to see is what um the the three of us did. So, in all fairness to to um to Jeff and Pat,

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right? Um, and I think the process was rigorous and and we saw a lot of the same, but we saw some new. Um, I think so. I think, you know, I have the opportunity of of having seeing that difference. Um, again, my the question for me is before I I answer your

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question, Pat, is, you know, I I Tom to me is the is a little bit of the safe bet. I think there's a little less up to speed, but I also think he's going to get us through the next 10 years, whereas Alex on the

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other hand, he did take a huge leap and and I think he has been building his career. Um, and I think this job, I think like it was for Paul, it's a it's the step up, right? And Paul rose to the

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occasion. I know it wasn't a smooth road. It was going to be rocky. Um, and I recognize that if we choose Alex, there will be missteps. There will be some rockiness. Um, but I I mean I did see a a passion. Um, his

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character very clearly came out. He never said anything about being on that board together. I think that was a and I think honestly that was well done, right? It was He's just looking at that. He's not looking for praise for that. He wasn't looking to use that as an advantage. Um, I I would be uh I would

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be more than happy to um uh to support Alex as a as a nominee for that. I I think I think there's a there's a tiny bit more risk, but I think the reward on the other end is significantly higher than the level of risk that would take

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by um by offering him the opportunity. >> Okay, Dave. >> Yeah. On my end, I mean, I kind of thought you started the discussion by saying don't give us our assessment. So I I don't think I said all the rules. >> Maybe I misunderstood. So >> general or specific and I think these

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guys went very specific. >> So but from my end I leaned more towards Alex. I mean the passion you can't teach that >> and if he's going to have that much passion he's going to come out really strong out of the gate. He's going to learn as much as he can as quick as he

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can. I think he'll do a good job. no matter who comes on is going to have to learn some things that are different in the town and they're going to have to learn the personalities and the people. So, I certainly would vote for Alex without hesitation. >> His background in finance because the relationship he's got to have with John,

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the relationship he's got to have, which he's already got experience with >> with Heather, right? Um, knowing that he's going to have to do some horse trading with with Jay, but I I think the relationship he's going to have to have with John over the next couple years is is critical. and he speaks John's language.

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>> Yeah. And I think both of them have personalities that you can get along with. >> Yes. >> So >> that's English, right? >> Yeah. >> Just want to make sure. >> Sorry for >> No, that's interrupting. >> That's not a problem. >> Anyway, >> okay. So, we want to have a motion then.

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>> Yeah. I'll make a motion that we appoint Alex, sorry, >> McGee. >> McGee as our next town manager. >> Second the motion. >> All right. I mean, it it isn't a direct appointment. We still do have to do a negotiation process and a contract, but

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>> understand. So, we have a motion and a second. And I want to make this a roll call vote since it is a very important vote for us. So, Aaron, >> yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> Jeff, >> yes. >> John, >> enthusiastic yes. >> Okay. And I'm also an enthusiastic yes.

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So, um, so I have a a meeting set up tomorrow morning with Lisa Moroni, uh, on the anticipation that we were going to come to this conclusion to set up some criteria for a contract, um, to submit to him, which will then go to

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town council for review. Um, if if Aaron as representing the screening committee, if you'd like to join me in that meeting, um, we can only we can't have more than two people in that because otherwise we would have to post it as a meeting. um and go from there. So, it might be a

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few days before we're able to to formally submit something to him, but I indicated to both candidates that I'd call them this evening and let them know what our decision was and uh hopefully within a short period of time, we will

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have an official permanent town manager. So, any last comments before we adjourn? >> Go USA Soccer. I would just like to say to Jeff and the rest of the parade committee, Fourth of July was great >> and I appreciate the effort and the

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passion you brought up to it. So, it wouldn't be a select board meeting if we didn't talk about the parade committee. So, >> seriously, >> great job, Jeff. >> Day turned out fantastic. I mean, we had more >> participants than we've ever had and those guys up the school just everything

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running smooth as silk. So, and I'm happy we didn't have any heat problems, which was anticipated >> except for a couple vehicles >> and and and just for the record, um the only reason we had the Oscar Meyer

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Wiener Mobile was because after trying for 20 years, Jeff used his official state Chumsford, Mass uh selectman email and then they responded. So, so you know. >> Okay. >> All right. Congratulations on that and thanks for the ride.

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>> Oh, you're most welcome. >> Yeah. Thanks for not hitting us. >> Yeah. >> Kept saying to John, you know, I'm one >> to curl away from the chairmanship. >> Wow. Glad you rate. >> I think that beats your double A job by

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the way. So >> with that, we should take a motion. >> I'll make the motion we adjourn. >> Second motion. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. And we are returned. Thank you very much.