##VIDEO ID:40blOOtgjfA## [Music] [Music] it is January 13th and it is 600 p.m. I will now call the S board meeting to order you can please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you okay on the agenda tonight is to deliberate and select Our Town Administrator so we had some really good candidates last week on Thursday and I know I've been over this so many times with our different candidates and I um I'm down to two applicants um and the two applicants that I think are going to be best for the town of grany is either Shelley per or Michael Durham so I wanted to um lean on the board members and see where their thoughts were going with the applicants I think they're all qualified that came in front of us I do want to make the announcement that one of them did withdraw his application which was Scott butcher so he withdrew his application um from the candidacy so we're down to three left so I also was at the point of narrowed it down to two excuse me and it was the same too um regardless of the withdraw I didn't think that the other candidates had as much experience and would feel as comfortable in the town as one of these candidates that we're talking about now end up with two as well um shell P Pita parita and my other one was uh I'm not get his the last name correct is Michael uh Z zic yeah it wasn't you pronounced itaz okay that was mine um you know I look at the um as he referred to himself as Mike I look at Mike's um experience um you know he was close to 15 years as a Town Administrator and when you know actually some towns in Massachusetts got larger than um gramby and then one that's very similar to gramby or closest size where it currently is is North Brookfield so you know just it it was hard to to shy away from someone that as um that much experience with them um you know like it was see my only concern with Mike was that um he had mentioned that you know how long he'd be around for which to me is he said you know at least um he said maybe at least two contracts which to me is six years I know I don't know if I want to have the the you know the select board looking another five or six years for another Town Administrator so that's what my concern with with that was but again I look at his his knowledge experience that he's had over his career um and again just looking at um Town Administrator for one two three four five different uh towns closest by is llo um he is you know fairly close to us as far as proximity for living um so that was one of the things that I looked at as well um so that's why with those so much that was actually I'm glad you mentioned it Glenn because I had written down as we were interviewing him that he said when you had asked the question where do you see yourself in five years he said close to retirement so that was one of my concerns for the board who does take over that they would have to um go through the process and I mean it's not to say that if we pick another applicant that we're not still going to be going through the process with that five years that is true that's the same thing I thought Crystal just because we pick someone else or doesn't mean that's the case or doesn't mean that you know uh he decided to stay longer he enjoys working he enjoys doing what he's doing he he may decid it was given the opportunity to stay longer I don't those are our what ifs but I just go based on some of the information that we had um on hand at the time for least for myself I agree that he did have a lot of experience as you say with the town Administration and I was impressed with his resume but I did have concern that he wouldn't be here longer term and again to your point we uh don't know if there are any guarantees with any of the candidates that are available now that they'll be here longer than five or six years anyway so I believe they're all good choices so now we have to narrow it down to the best choice for the town of well for myself I I think U yeah I know the both of you you mentioned Michael Duro um just for myself re look at um his resume qualifications I think it's less than the other two just based on what what areas he's qualified in what he was doing in retrospect to his current occupation I'm not taking anything away from him I did a nice job with with the interview and again you know he had some I think some solid candidates came that came forward um so you know having a difficult decision to make is a good thing yeah uh in this case uh in regards to uh the people have in front of us but like I said to me I just I Look to myself I believe shy and uh U and Mike uh had more qualifications uh un experienced in and what I was looking for and a Town Administrator uh versus what uh Michael dur had that's all had a lot of experience in a lot of different areas but I thought I thought the the other two had more experience that was more U aimed and geared if you will towards a town administrative position that was uh one of my cons because I did pros and cons for each candidate and that was one of my cons as well for Michael Durham um day-to-day workings he said he was going to struggle with or was going to be a weakness not so much struggle with he would need procurement certificate um learning the Mass general laws so it just seemed like there was a lot more that was going to um be needed as far as experience prior to so I did have that as well um as far as Michael is concerned I was quite impressed again with um his resume all around I did have a few concerns uh in regards to what you just mentioned procurements and um being in such a different um field at this point I should I guess I could say um I was very impressed with uh some of the numbers that he has out there especially with um in regards to his budgeting if he's uh of a percent off a Target on a uh $16 million budget that was pretty impressive um I think that he could pick up things very easily and learn as he went and he does have a stake in town where he has children in school um so I think he has a lot of incentive to do right by the town if he gets the position and I think that his uh level level of expertise would come right into play for him I like the fact that he's very prolific with software um where he could bring all the software in town together possibly and interact all of the Departments easier than trying to sit down at a table by putting it in programs and bringing it all together that way I ask the two of you that it came down to um obviously we always we had two we came down to um the one person we have in in common once the three of us is is shell so I don't know if that's you know Direction I I don't know how you add them you know you know one and two or how you looked at that but I was really tied between both of them to be honest with you um there's pros and cons to both I mean Mike Michael Durham could start in two weeks um whereas Shelley Pita um her her contract has to give a 90-day notice to her employer so then my mind went to well what are we going to do Chris has gone January 24th so what does that mean for the town so um I did do some leg work to figure out because I didn't want to make a decision that was going to hurt the town and how it was running um and I called Chris and talked to Chris today it would be the police chief who would have to take over in the absence of a Town Administrator and then my mind went to well Chris he's going to need help if he's taking over would you be willing to consult and Chris said he would be willing to help whether we appoint either Cathy Leonard or the chief of police as the um interim Town Administrator he would be able to he would be willing to consult with either one of those at no charge to the town so then my mind went okay so if we do pick this person in 90 days um within that 90 days can she at least do part-time can she at least come do a couple hours learn the town try and build those Community relationships and stuff and Kathy did um send her an email email asking if that was a possibility she did say that she would be um willing to discuss it but she has to talk to her superintendent and school committee before making a formal Commitment if we were to go that rout and I did talk to Chief ogrady as well and he said he's willing to do whatever the select board asks him to do for the town so I just wanted to make sure that we came with all the information before we made a decision tonight that's you know I I would agree with that so and my thought process as well you know Kathy Kathy is the assistant to the town Minister um she did a fine job when Chris was out there for for a little while I have no problems or concerns with with Kathy um the board at that point decides to do something like that police chief has his own Department concerns to be with you know so U and and I know just like to talked about Mr Martin I know he would be there for Kathy to pick up the phone had a question about um one thing or another so um the 90 days when I first saw it I kind of thought the same thing the 90 days is a long time out but also I look at you know what that's her respecting her current employment that she has she's honoring her contract she has she's honoring the people that she's working with now to make sure that she's fulfilling their needs and knowing that and reading the email that she sent that's who something I look for as moving forward again is that is that professional piece there knowing that hey I have obligation now I need to fulfill that I need to make sure that I don't just leave someone and and move on to something different or something better I need to take care of what I but I've signed on to already so I appreciate that part part of it as being a professional and I I I truly believe if if if it is shell that we go with uh this town can make through 90 days uh especially with Mr Martin willing to assist uh you know Kathy Leonard in place and there is a possibility that and I would think you know if Shel may say yeah I can come you know come down this is going to be my you know remembering back to her interview talking about the next chapter in her life it's a career move that she wants to take that's next to be part of that so I see her having the opportunity would probably say yes I'd like to come down start meeting people you know before I even start there on a per basis start to meet the department heads so that being the process of the budget on her part I think like you said it's a it's a career for her it's something she chose something she wants to do and there's a commitment there that I that I see and her just you're listening to her so to clarify um Kathy is willing to assist the chief she's not willing to be Town Administrator or the intro so I just wanted to clarify that and that's why I reached out to the chief to see if the chief was willing to help out in that role because I didn't want to assume that he would and he said he would so that I just want to be clear on that she does not want to be appointed as appointed as the interim Town Administrator completely she will assist whoever's in place okay um on the note of Shelly um I do think it is very commendable that she would try to interact with us within those 90 days of giving her notice and try to learn the town and the people in town and the players that are um involved in everyday activities or business within the town um I did again think she had a very impressive resume um she did mention that she was happy where she is but also that she wanted to come here which would which confused me a little bit um she but as the Glenn's Point she wants to start a new chapter in her life um I guess this would be a good chapter to start it's along the lines of what she's done uh she has a lot of school background a lot of administrative background um so I definitely think she is also a prime candidate for this position uh one of the concerns I did have is she um she said she lacked a little bit on uh tax the tax end of things which she said she would you know oh DS yes pick up and um you know educate herself and move forward with that and that was um setting the tax rate is what it was yes correct can I can I just interject on that topic yeah Town Administrator normally is not involved with setting the tax rate filling out any of the forms I did that as the town accountant okay oh okay okay so so that's a piece right the administrator does not have to know how to set a tax how to fill out the tax recap CU nowhere's on that form does it require a signature from the Town Administrator just the account just the accountant okay so so town clerk the assessors those are the only people who have to sign off okay so less of a concern on my end then with that okay y that's about all I have at this point I W I did have the concern about not being familiar with Mass General law as much as far as because she had the financing from the school department but she didn't really have it for municipalities but neither does Michael Durham either so both of them would have to learn that as they go through so that was one of my concerns as well where I am I I for myself I believe sh is a better uh candidate than Michael I think just looking at the pros and the cons she has more experience as Glenn said than nil Durham does she has uh her procurement certification she has 23 years of Business Administration she is in charge of five different budgets right now working with five different municipalities on setting the budgets and making sure everyone's adhering to it she's got the grant skills um as far as making sure that everyone is doing the criteria so she was clear that she didn't write a grant on her own yes but she oversees making sure that the grants are being adhered to but as you said Michael's got some Great accomplishments as well um but he would need to get the procurement certification he would need to become familiar with Mass General law but both candidates were very motivated and enthusiastic so they were I agree with that I know and he's in charge of 36 department needs and Target goals and stuff so it's not that he doesn't have the administration he just doesn't have as much experience both have Union um negotiation or contract negotiation experience with unions and nonunions and both of them kind of had a similar approach to um collaboration and communication they both wanted to do periodic meetings make sure that everyone's on the same page I agree I did like that about both candidates and both have the budgetary background so big big budgetary background that's for well it's a tough decision but um I think my decision would be to go with Mike Durham is that is that a motion I'm just conversation conversation oh to so yeah and I think where where I'm at with this is I don't know Michael's background enough to know if he's from a small town or not but it sounded like he was from a bigger city where there was a mayor and so forth so I feel like she can relate to a small town a little bit better and she understands the hardships of small towns so I felt like she had that I had that as a pro for her as well um and he talked about bigger budgets bigger cities and wanting to get down to the small town level so um yeah like Glenn said we have two so we've narrowed it down there but I think moving into a smaller role be easier than moving not necessarily it can be but it can also be uh if you're used to working up at the top I'll make a motion that we offer the position Town Administrator to sh at this time I will second that motion okay any further discussion no discussion like I said I think we have good candidates I think it's you know to forward it again you know you look at who we have we had in front of you we had good candidates just kind of we feel who's going to do make a better fit for this town right now so now with that motion um it's to enter with into negotiations with you correct Chris no with us oh with us okay all right so there's no further discussion all in favor hi all right so our new Town Administrator um well as long as she accept Position will be sh P so the next step Kathy would be for you to contact her and then enter into negotiations I and as Glenn said just to reiterate thank you for everyone who came for some really good candidates now with that said coming January 24th is your last day right so do we need to appoint the chief we have a meeting on the 22nd so we could always do it on the 22nd as well so we'll figure out logistics then and figure out who's going to be okay the board's can consider to points Kevin orady kevinr should be here yeah I would think so talk to us okay and those um to enter into negotiation that's executive session right no it's not no okay you can go into executive session to put together what you are considering to offer okay this individual but you cannot go into negotiations with that person an executive session okay and would the board like to do that at our next meeting on the 22nd to go into executive session for discussion on what we're prepared to offer or yes okay yes agre so that way we can move forward on that so that will be next one so that will be at the end of our um meeting very good all right next on the agenda is to airm appointments to the fire chief search committee so U Madam chair yes before you start looking at affirming the appointments I met with Russ Anderson today and he had uh forwarded me a document about maybe looking at doing an assessment center and I just didn't know if the board wanted to consider that before appointing a search committee because currently right now we have six candidates who have submitted uh letters of interest for the permanent Chief so I wasn't sure if you want to go through a search Comm or do an assessment center to evaluate the prospective candidates and H we haven't done a search or a search yeah a search committee in the past right for the previous yes we did we did we we had a screening committee okay okay uh and they came up with the last fire chief's need as the only candidate to bring forward so and based upon what Russ is saying is basically it would be uh the assessment center would consist of a Review Committee with two to three residents and two to three industry experts basically he has he's mentioning he has three Chiefs that have shown interest in participating in this assessment process and basically what they end up doing they review the resumés then they do to uh a one-day event with multiple role playing stations um basically they may include a simulated emergency response a budget issue an employee performance issue or anything else that the board would want to see how a prospective candidate will handle something that they would encounter in the day-to-day oper op operation as a fire chief you know then basically based upon their uh responses and how they deal with each of the issues they would uh rank them and then send the names forward for potential interview any he saying um the resumés are due back on 117 so the um committee would be a 30-day process that's what he figur it would take for an assessment process to occur I think it's a great idea um I agree with what uh Chief Anderson was saying that just just one board interview is not going to give you a clue as to whether or not they can interact or perform all the duties that they're going to have to do as a chief nor do I have the expertise to sit here and say yeah you're going to be a good chiefer you're not I think having other Chiefs in the role um or on the Review Committee I think is definitely beneficial so I think we should do what in the last time we did an assessment center we ended up with Chief Anderson def okay so we had conducted an assessment way back when okay back in was it 2007 I like the fact that we can put a couple of residents on and then have industry experts to intermingle that yeah to fit the town's needs and obviously the position needs um and if Chief Anderson has three other Chiefs that are showing interest then what better opportunity people could you possibly choose to put that kind of candidate in place to look forward at so I do agree with it also makes sense so and and I'm sure you already have two residents who would be more than willing to volunteer for the committee here tonight yeah so Mr George mandal would you be willing to be part of that committee I okay Richie gay Okay so we've got our two residents does it have to be an odd number because I know in the past we yes it's usually a good idea to have a odd number and and then we just have to get the names from Chief Anderson for the other three yes so we would do two residents and three Chiefs is what we're open for which is what uh unless you want another Resident it's up to you then we have an even number right or or we do we go to two residents and have an uneven number again I like I like odd number commit I'm sorry no I agree that should Ross Ross Anderson going to be a voting member no he would help facilitate okay okay so Chiefs and then and then and then the two resident res okay yes unless unless other residents wanted to join yeah yeah we just so we say an odd number i' hate to say that if you have other said definitely like to be part of it and you know increasing it by two more residents yeah have a board of seven instead of five yeah all right that sounds good so I will talk with the chief tomorrow I'll get the names of the three Chiefs who are interested and then we can bring all the names forward on the 20 meeting of the 22nd official and I actually have a couple of people that might be interested in it uh could I reach out to them sure to see if they're interested and then have them getting in touch with Kathy sure okay I will do that then reach out to them and see if they're not interested then I'll let Kathy know they're not interested but if they are then that could possibly get us up to the seven people that's fine all right does the board have anything that they want to discuss at the 22nd meeting um no I'm just I'm not sure I'm the chief being appointed to the count administrator position I think it's mot that's general office the chief of police I think when they Town Minister it usually calls the chief of police but we can we can do research and see yeah for the 22nd because we were going to discuss it on the again that have any it's a lot it's a lot of concerns with Chief gr that just kind thinking you know we have a safety center there a one current chief down there I know we have the fire department it's separate up make sure that we're we're fair to chief of Grady to and that he is one that will help the town any way shape or form he probably can to raise his hand say will but I want to make sure that we're being we're very being fair to him as well but I know he'd be more willing to to take on the responsibility I and I know that if it is Mass General law obviously we don't have a choice so yeah but you have an assistant time ministry yes correct so you and try and split the duties maybe if you can I'm just wondering how do you run a whole department and then run another half of Department I guess if you if you're just helping but as a s board we we we decided the town Min we could appoint some all right so that'll be for the 22nd to discuss that more and um Kathy if you can reach out to Chief ogrady and see if he can come to that meeting um anything else for next time not that I can think of right now okay I did um um look up for the dredging for fresh water and it's not open yet so usually opens at the end of January so hopefully they'll open it it was a pilot program last year a pilot Grant so I don't know that it's going to open again this year but I'll keep I'll keep looking other than that that's all I have and just so we clear too the Mass General law refers back to achieve only if the select board chooses not to appoint someone as well okay that's that's the matter we still have the authority to Appo who we wish very good that'll be here okay okay all right with that said I will entertain a motion to adjourn I will make a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll second a motion any further discussion all in favor hi I thank you