Harwich Begins Search For New Town Administrator

 HARWICH – Exactly how the select board will move forward with landing a new town administrator and who will serve as an interim administrator remain open questions based on discussion on Monday night.

Select Board member Julie Kavanagh said the obvious choice is to move Assistant Town Administrator Meggan Eldredge into the interim position. Kavanagh said when previous Town Administrator Christopher Clark resigned, then-Assistant Town Administrator Joseph Powers was moved into the interim position.

But board members had differing opinions on how to move forward with replacing Powers, whose tenure as administrator ends June 30. 

Select Board member Peter Piekarski said the board needs to have a much broader conversation “than who we put in as the interim administrator. Are we going to have a search consultant, and are we going to appoint a citizen search group?”   

 Piekarski said when he was a selectman in 2006 and the town administrator resigned, the assistant town administrator also took another job elsewhere and an interim administrator was brought in from outside of the town while a search was conducted. Piekarski said he’d like to have a larger discussion on options.

 “I agree,” said Select Board member Michael MacAskill. There will be two newly elected members of the board in a couple of weeks, so the board might want to wait to allow them to participate in the decisions, he said.

 “I think Meggan (Eldredge) has done an excellent job and I’d like to hear that she wants to serve,” added MacAskill, whose term ends next week.

 Select Board Chairman Jeffrey Handler said the town charter specifies how to address filling the seat when it becomes vacant. The charter requires that the board name an interim within 10 days, advertise the vacancy as soon as possible and fill the position as soon as reasonably possible.

 The charter provisions state: “The select board shall designate, within 10 days after the vacancy occurs, a town employee, a member of the select board, or other person to exercise the rights and perform the duties of the town administrator during any vacancy caused by temporary absence, suspension, removal, resignation or death of a town administrator.”

 The appointment could be for up to 90 days and can be renewed once for 90 days. The appointee is eligible for appointment to town administrator. 

Handler said if no action is taken by the board by June 30 the assistant town administrator would step into the acting position. 

Piekarski said if the assistant town administrator wants the job, it could have a negative impact on candidates. The interim appointment and how a search is conducted needs to be part of one conversation, he said. 

Kavanagh said the town could spend a lot of money on a search consultant. She also suggested that the cost of housing here will be a factor in recruitment. 

MacAskill said Harwich is on the low end of the salary spectrum for Cape administrators, and the board should be looking at a $210,000 to $230,000 range. Both MacAskill and Piekarski said they would like to start by interviewing search consultants. Powers had provided the board with a list of four search consultants. 

Piekarski said search consultants “would do the heavy lifting” but could work with a citizen group, if the board decided to put one in place. 

Select Board member Donald Howell was not in attendance, and Handler said the board should hear from him before making any decisions. Discussions on an interim town administrator, and whether to pursue a search consulting firm and/or a citizen search committee will continue in next Monday’s session.