The Select Board on Wednesday named a veteran municipal administrator to serve as Interim Town Manager while the search for a permanent Town Manager takes place.
Michael Maresco, who spent seven years as town administrator in Marshfield, will temporarily fill the position being vacated by Scott Lambiase.
The Select Board, gathering in a rare weekday morning meeting, voted unanimously without any questions or discussion to ratify Maresco’s appointment.
Board members also formally voted to form a Town Manager Search Committee as required by the town charter, but not before placing two of their own members on the panel and possibly limiting the pool of candidates they’d like to see apply.
Board Chairman Roger Woods and Vice Chair Suzanne Djusberg will fill two of the five seats on the search committee that are reserved for town residents.
The charter does not explicitly prohibit sitting Select Board members from serving on the search committee, but does not mandate it either — a policy Donovan said he disagreed with.
“It makes no sense to me this wasn’t embodied in the charter,” he said, stating that every search committee he’s been a part of, whether as a member or as a candidate, has included a Select Board member.
The version of the town charter that existed for the 2010 and 2013 town manager searches mandated a five-person search committee that included a reserved seat for one Select Board member. Andrew Burbine was the select board representative in 2010, which resulted in John D’Agostino. Ken Coyle served on the 2013 committee, which resulted in Rick LaFond.
The town approved a new charter in 2014 that expanded future search committees to seven members, dropped the reserved select board seat, and instead called for five residents appointed by the select board. The search committee that took place in 2019-2020 that found Lambiase did not include a member of the select board.
The motion to form the committee with Woods and Djusberg passed unanimously without any discussion.
Under the current charter, the search committee will also feature representatives from the School Committee and Finance Committee chosen by those boards.
School Committee Chairman Chris Coyle said his board intends to name Caroline Ellis as its representative. The Finance Committee Wednesday night named its chairman, Matt Salah, as its representative.
Residents have until Dec. 15 to submit a letter through the town website stating they’re interested in serving on the search committee. The Select Board said they will vote on candidates at a special meeting on Dec. 23. The board did not say whether that meeting would be held during the day or at night.
Donovan said, in an effort to involve people who haven’t been involved before, he will not support any resident who currently serves on a town board, or has in the past, or is a current town employee.
“I want people on the street, it’s their town,” he said. “And I want, as least as far as I’m concerned, their participation at the table for this important decision.”
No board member said they disagreed with Donovan’s stand or indicated they would otherwise support a wider pool of candidates.
Donovan said the Select Board has already scheduled the search committee’s first meeting for Jan. 6 at 7 p.m., at which time the committee will vote on a chair. Woods will serve as the chair for that organizational meeting. The School Committee has already scheduled its annual budget hearing for that exact same time.
Donovan laid out an anticipated schedule for the search committee to follow, including Town Manager candidate interviews in January, and making final recommendations to the Select Board by Jan. 26. The job was posted on the Mass. Municipal Association website prior to Wednesday’s meeting.
He said between the town’s challenging budget situation, the desire to get someone in place before the Annual Town Meeting, and the fact there are other local towns also searching for town managers, the process needs to move quick.
“We can’t dilly dally, we have to get out there and get rolling on this,” he said.
The charter does not say the search committee has to follow a timeframe set by the Select Board, just that it has to provide the names of at least three finalists to the board, which will then conduct a final round of interviews and vote on a candidate.
Donovan said because of the time required to conduct interviews with candidates, the search committee should consider meeting during weekdays or on weekends.
Lambiase was hired by the town in April 2020 and started in May. He is leaving to become the Town Administrator in Kingston.
Woods said Wednesday thar when it became apparent Lambiase was leaving, he asked Donovan, a longtime municipal administrator on the South Shore, to conduct an informal search for an interim. He recommended Maresco.
Maresco was previously a selectman in Marshfield and Assistant Secretary of the Commonwealth before becoming Town Administrator in 2017. He signed a separation agreement with that town this past April.
Donovan said Maresco will start on Dec. 8 on a part time basis to work alongside Lambiase before Lambiase leaves around the start of the new year. Maresco will then take over on a full time basis.
He will be paid $90 per hour while working part time, and then receive the full pay rate Lambiase is currently receiving.
Maresco briefly addressed the town employees gathered in the hearing room, saying he looked forward to meeting with them individually once he starts.
[DISCLOSURE: The author of this article was a member of the Town Manager Search Committee that hired Lambiase and chaired the most recent Charter Review Committee.]
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