The Select Board announced Thursday morning it had agreed to a five-year deal with Michael Maresco to become Abingon’s new Town Manager.
Moments later a majority of the board announced they weren’t going to stick around for his contract.
Select Board Chair Roger Woods, Vice-Chair Suzanne Djusberg, and Clerk Kevin Donovan each announced in succession that they would be leaving the board this spring. For Djusberg and Donovan, their terms on the board are up and they won’t be seeking re-election. Woods, who still has a year left on his term, said he would resign effective April 24 — the day before the annual Town Elections.
Donovan and Woods indicated in their remarks and in letters later posted on social media that by installing a new town manager they had accomplished one of their main goals.
“One of the reasons I ran was to accomplish certain changes to the management structure of the town. I feel the town is now in a position to move forward successfully with our strong town manager form of government with the addition of a competent, professional and experienced town manager,” Woods said.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that we were able to select Michael,” Donovan said. “I think it’s his job now and and he’s very well qualified to do it is to act as the the charter indicates. It’s a strong town manager form of government. The selectmen are the overseers and only administer through um policy statements and they’re prohibited under the charter from day-to-day operations. So I know we we’re going to get back to that, which I’m I’m thankful for.”
Donovan and Woods have been frequent presences at Town Hall while on the board, spending significantly more time in the building than their predecessors.
Woods also said his decision was based on his desire to spend more time with his young daughter.
“I need to focus on the most important aspect of my life, and that’s to be a father to my daughter, Emerson,” he said. “Emerson faces many challenges, and as a 5-year-old doesn’t understand why dad has to is too busy with other things to do with her, and I simply need to spend more time with Emerson.”
Donovan said his main goal in running for office three years ago was to help get a new fire station headquarters approved. Town voters approved the new $39 million fire station and public works complex in 2023. Construction is underway and the complex is expected to be finished early next year.
Djusberg said her decision to not seek reelection was driven by personal factors.
“Things have changed in my life,” she said. “And I think we are in a good position with our new town manager.”
The Select Board on Tuesday night unanimously chose Maresco to serve as Abington’s fifth Town Manager, saying they wanted a chief administrative officer with experience and ready to hit the ground running.
“We need a Town Manager that’s going to come in and start kicking some ass,” Woods said at the meeting.
Among Maresco’s first tasks will be finalizing a municipal budget for FY 2027 that may require the biggest round of layoffs and service reductions since 2010, unless voters approve a menu of override options.
Maresco has been serving as Interim Town Manager since the start of the year following the departure of Scott Lambiase, who became the new Town Administrator in Kingston.
Maresco beat out Joseph Reynolds, who served as chief of staff to former Braintree Mayor Joe Sullivan, and Angie Ellison, a veteran town administrator. All three candidates said they had overseen successful override votes in their previous roles. The Select Board hasn’t yet determined the amounts of the override requests.
Board members said one aspect about Maresco’s resume that stood out was his previous role as Assistant Secretary of the Commonwealth, where he served as the office’s main liason to the Legislature and Governor’s office
The Select Board met behind closed doors Thursday morning to hammer out a new contract for Maresco. The board didn’t announce details of the contract during the meeting, but a copy of the contract provided by Maresco to Abington News afterwards shows that he will be paid $200,000 this year with $5,000 annual escalators. If he stays in the position until 2030, he will earn $220,000.
“I can assure you based on market analysis it’s actually a little bit below what the average would be,” Donovan said during the meeting. “So I think we’re getting a very good bang for the buck if you will.”
He added that the five-year contract was for “stability” and is the same length as contracts given to the chiefs of the town fire and police departments.
A future Select Board will have to give Maresco 150 days notice is they do not intend to renew his contract.
The selection of Maresco concludes a whirlwind selection process that started in mid-December. By comparison, the Town of Marshfield still has not hired a replacement for Maresco, who departed that town last April. The Town of Cohasset just hired a firm to help a new Town Manager for that community, despite that community’s previous administrator departing before Lambiase did.