By Nate Leskovic
Times Staff
4/17/08
Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick is proposing a government reorganization that includes a town manager, and she may have the support to start a study of the idea.
McEttrick says switching from a town administrator to a manager would speed up response in day-to-day operations, as Selectmen usually meet only twice a month to make decisions.
Selectman Kathy Fagan backs the concept, which would transfer some decision-making to the manager.
“Selectmen don’t necessarily need to make all the decisions,” McEttrick says. “A manager can be held responsible.”
After Town Meeting in May, the chair says she will consider forming a new committee to study the idea. A change in government structure would require Town Meeting to pass a charter, followed by state legislative approval of a home-rule petition.
McEttrick says hiring decisions would be one task of a manager.
“Interviews are done by our staff, and recommendations by staff, and most of the time we follow them,” she says.
Budgeting could also be improved, according to McEttrick.
“Selectmen want to see the town doing a little more long-term financial planning, but we don’t have the authority to impose that on other departments,” she says. “The manager could have more authority over budgets.”
According to the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), of 298 state municipalities with a town form of government, 147 have a town administrator and 57 have a town manager. Thirteen have executive secretaries, a title that many towns—including Milton—changed to town administrator after a 1996 legislative amendment.
The rest have different titles for the position.
State law defines neither position, though the MMA says town administrators generally serve as an agent of the selectmen. Town managers are often given budgetary, hiring, collective bargaining and purchasing powers.
McEttrick sees a potential conflict with other elected department officials, who could oppose a reorganization of power. “It’s hard,” she says. “We have a lot of separately elected boards. Usually a town manager system has fewer. That’s something fraught with political peril.”
Selectman John Shields opposes the proposal and is wary about a manager having too much power. “I feel that the people elected by the people should have the authority,” he says. “I think they are more responsive.
Using the three heads of Selectmen to address issues along with qualified staff as support is better, according to Shields.
Selectman Fagan says to avoid conflicts of authority, the respective powers of Selectmen and the manager would need to be ironed out.
“If everyone understood what their roles are, and how the mechanisms of a town manager would work, I think it is at least something we should take a look at,” she says.
Whatever direction the town takes, however, it will not be a quick switch.
“It’s a long-term discussion and would probably take several years,” says McEttrick.