Selectmen appoint Town Accountant as Acting Administrator
Published on January 24th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Soon there will be a new man atop Complaint Mountain:
At their Jan. 24 meeting, upstairs and off camera, Selectmen voted 3-1, over Cosmo Ciccarello’s objection and despite Al Conti’s absence, to appoint Town Accountant Ron Florino as Acting Town Administrator.
“There should be a full Board for something as important as this,” Ciccarello said. “And what about checks and balances?”
Eight-plus year Stoneham Town Administrator Jeff Nutting has accepted the Town Administrator (TA) job in Franklin, Mass.
Conti is on vacation. Town Counsel Bill Solomon said the appointment is legal. And, according to Chairman Pat Jordan, time is an issue with Nutting scheduled to finish on March 2 and take vacation in February.
But Finance Committee Chairman Richard Gregorio agreed with Ciccarello.
“I think we should hire someone from the MMA (Massachusetts Municipal Association),” Gregorio said. He added that tough cuts are imminent and that Florino will be put in the awkward position of choosing who to ax and who to keep among his co-workers.
Jordan said that the Selectmen will make the tough choices, and Selectman Darin Leahy agreed.
“For the Acting TA I want someone who knows the process, system and people,” Leahy said.
Leahy, Jordan and Selectman Bob Sweeney voted for Florino.
Florino will take the reins on March 3. An assistant in Florino’s office will take over the Town Accountant’s role of signing weekly warrants while Florino serves as Acting Town Administrator. Florino will serve until a permanent TA is hired. The hiring process usually takes around six months.
Ciccarello moved that each member of the Board of Selectmen find one person to serve on a search committee charged with reading resumes and thinning the herd of applicants. The motion passed unanimously with no debate. After the search committee identifies a pool of candidates, Selectmen choose finalists to interview in hopes of finding a new TA. If Selectmen don’t like who they see, they wait for more resumes or reevaluate candidates discarded by the search committee. An ad is running in The Beacon, a trade publication for municipal managers.
Selectmen also set a salary range of $80,000 to $100,000 for the permanent TA job and voted to require that the person move into Stoneham within a year of the hiring date.
The Board experienced deja vu taking this last vote. In June of 1995 Town Meeting approved changes in the Town Administrator Act including a residency requirement for the next Town Administrator after Nutting. The article was sent to the State Legislature, according to the Board; Leahy presented a copy of the letter at the meeting. But when the Legislature passed the article as a bill, the residency requirement was gone.
“God only knows how this happened,” Jordan said.
Political watchdog John DeGeorge of Franklin Street asked if the Board could institute a policy to alter the Act without again going to Town Meeting.
Solomon said that the Board has the right “to make criteria stricter.” The Act reads, “the Town Administrator must live a reasonable distance from Stoneham.” Requiring a residence in town just tightens the intent and is OK, Solomon said.
In other Selectmen news:
Selectmen are looking at cutting around $500,000. Police overtime, Sunday hours for the Public Library and vacant town jobs are on the list of what may have to go.
“Everything is on the table,” Jordan said.
Before getting down into the nitty gritty, the Board will wait to find out how much Stoneham will get from the State. The Board will take up the Town Budget again on Feb. 6, time permitting, or Feb. 13.
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