The committee charged with finding candidates to be the town’s next Town Manager said it has received 21 applications for the position.
The Town Manager Search Committee held its inaugural meeting Monday night and swiftly elected Select Board Chair Roger Woods to lead the review panel. Ted Duggan was chosen as vice chair.
Woods told Abington News that the committee will meet again on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 8 a.m., to winnow down the list of candidates, and then on Jan. 24 starting at 8 a.m., to conduct candidate interviews. Woods said the plan is to vote immediately following the Jan. 24 interviews on a slate of finalists to recommend to the full Select Board.
The town charter requires the search committee to offer up at least three finalists to the Select Board, which will then conduct a final round of candidate interviews before voting on a choice.
Woods declined to characterize the quality of the slate of candidates, or how many candidates would be offered interviews, as the search committee has just received the full list of interested leaders.
The Select Board has stated they want to have a new Town Manager chosen in February and in place by March in order to make final budget decisions before this spring’s Annual Town Meeting and override vote.
Abington’s last Town Manager, Scott Lambiase started in March of 2020, just as the pandemic hit. He is the new Town Administrator in Kingston.
The Select Board chose Michael Maresco to serve as Interim Town Manager. Maresco spent seven years as the Town Administrator in Marshfield. That town still hasn’t hired a new Town Administrator, with the Select Board rejecting the latest round of finalists.
Abington’s Town Manager Search Committee consists of Woods, Duggan, Selectwoman Suzanne Djusberg, School Committee Member Caroline Ellis, Finance Committee Chairman Matt Salah, Plymouth County Commissioner Greg Hanley, and George O’Toole.