Winchester Begins Search for Next Town Manager

The process for a is under way.

At Monday night’s meeting, the town’s consultant, Mark Morse, President of MMA Consulting Group, Inc., spoke to the board and the Search Advisory Committee about what to expect from the process. According to Morse, Winchester should have its in time for Fall Town Meeting in November.

“The target is to get someone by mid-fall and by Fall Town Meeting they will be up to speed,” Morse said.

Selectmen chair, Forrest Fontana, said that this will be a public process and the board encourages public input. And on Monday, May 23 at 7:45 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, there will be a public hearing where residents from the town can discuss what attributes they like to see in the next Town Manager.

However, the applicants for the position will be kept private until the final three or four candidates are selected.

“We want this process to be open for people to comment,” said Selectman Thomas Howley. “But at a certain point this isn’t a democratic process and in the end it’s this board that owns the decision.”

While the advisory committee will be in charge of looking over resumes and interviewing the initial candidates, the selectmen want the committee to look for traditional, as well as non-traditional candidates.

“The board feels as though we want someone who can engage in the community, the department heads and the different boards,” Fontana said. “We want them out there taking the lead. We want the emphasis to be on a manager more than an administrator.”

According to Morse, the two biggest failures towns commit in making this decision is when there’s a disconnect between the Board of Selectmen and the search committee, and, when the selectmen, who need to work with this person, don't get the opportunity to see if they'r compatible.

“Someone might be great in one place, but they might not be a great fit for you,” Morse said.

The first action will be to put an ad out, which will happen over the next few weeks. By the start of summer the committee will begin to look at resumes and conduct preliminary interviews. And by the fall, the committee should have their pool of candidates narrowed to three or four people that the selectmen will then interview.

The Search Advisory Committee consists of: Lance Grenzeback, Jennifer Wilson, Robert Joy, Jim Whitehead, Cynthia Bohne and *Peter Haley.

*Special Project Manager.