No job in Millville

Meeting to announce hiring of town’s first administrator canceled for lack of quorum

MILLVILLE – The selectmen were expected to choose a candidate for the job of town administrator Wednesday night, but the meeting was abruptly canceled after Selectman Roland P. Barrett texted Chairman Joseph G. Rapoza minutes before the start of the 6 p.m. special meeting to say he was unable to attend. Barrett did not give a reason.

Three members of the five-person board are needed for a quorum, and only two were present at the meeting Wednesday – Rapoza and Selectwoman Jennifer Dean Wing. The board’s fourth member, John Laura, has been unable to attend recent meetings due to health reasons and the fifth seat on the board has been vacant since the departure of Robert Baker, who resigned several weeks ago due to work and other commitments.

Rapoza said the board will make a second attempt to choose a town administrator by scheduling another special meeting next Wednesday, June 1, at 6 p.m. at the Longfellow Municipal Center.

In the running for the $60,000 to $75,000-a-year full-time job are Michael Szlosek, Jennifer Callahan and David DeManche.

Each of the candidates was interviewed by the selectmen last week.

Szlosek, of Ludlow, is the interim town administrator in Sterling. He served as town administrator for the towns of South Hadley and Ludlow from 2004-2008. He also acted as town manager for the towns of Uxbridge (2009-2011) and Athol (2012-2014).

Szlosek received a Master of Business Administration in finance from the Isenberg School of Business at UMASS Amherst and has a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law.

DeManche of Uxbridge is chief operating officer and executive vice president of the Cornerstone Academy, Inc. in Northborough, Mass.

A graduate of Clark University, he served as the administrative assistant to the Board of Selectmen in Uxbridge from 1984 to 1993, and then returned to serve as interim administrator for 11 months in 2000. In between, DeManche served as town administrator of Millbury from 1994 to 1997 and town administrator of Carlisle from 1997 to 2000. DeManche served as town coordinator of Bolton from 2002 to 2003, and his most recent municipal role was as chief administrative and financial officer of Lunenburg from September to

December 2003.

Callahan was a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She represented the 18th Worcester District from 20032011. She was defeated in the Nov. 2, 2010, general election.

Callahan is an assistant professor and has also worked as a nurse.

She is the founding Director of Holidays with Heart Farm to Family Hunger Relief Program, and a member of the Central Massachusetts Labor Council, Massachusetts Nurses Association, National Conference of State Legislators, Sutton Long Range Planning Committee, and the Sutton School Committee.

The hiring of Millville’s first ever town administrator comes just a few short weeks after voters at the annual town meeting on May 9 over-

whelmingly approved a town bylaw creating the position.

The town administrator will report directly to the fivemember Board of Selectmen. Right now, the town has an executive secretary, a position currently held by Helen M. Coffin. Her contract with the town expires June 30.

The selectmen have been mulling the establishment of a town administrator position for the past few years, and it was one of the main recommendations in a financial management review drafted by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services in January.

According to that report, Millville established the executive secretary position in 1990, but there was no bylaw that defines the office. By tradition and job description, the position is essentially a select- men’s assistant and liaison to department heads and other boards and officials.

The town has a population of approximately 3,200 and an annual operating budget of $5.7 million.

The job description was drafted by the eight-member Town Administrator Search Committee, which screened the applicants and conducted the initial round of interviews. The search committee includes Gerry Finn, Paul Ouellette, Richard Crivello, Tina Landry, Brian Faulkner, Judy Monroe, Norman Thuot and Claudette Barrett.

The committee recommended the three finalists to the selectmen, who conduct the second round of interviews on Thursday.