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Council to re-advertise town administrator opening after personnel-board review; rules for screening clarified
Summary
After a contested week, the council voted to re-advertise the full-time town administrator post, and directed that applications be screened through the personnel board under a clarified governance process; a motion to reconsider a prior vote failed to change earlier positions on resume disclosure.
The Tiverton Town Council on Monday approved re-advertising the full-time town administrator position after the sole applicant advanced by the personnel board withdrew consideration. The council also directed that applications be screened by the personnel board under an updated, written governance process.
Why it matters: The town administrator is the municipal chief executive and supervises departments. Councilors expressed concern about transparency and process after the personnel board forwarded only one candidate and the council lacked a completed, written procedure for screening and sharing candidate materials.
Recap of recent actions and votes: Councilor Camino moved to reconsider the council’s prior request to receive the personnel board’s unselected candidate resumes; that motion advanced to discussion but a later motion to require the personnel board to deliver redacted resumes to the council failed. Councilors then approved re-advertising the town-administrator vacancy and agreed the personnel board will continue to perform initial screening and forward finalists to the council, with written policy language to be returned for adoption before the next round of screening.
Council discussion included sharp exchanges about process and optics. Councilor Paul said the recent sequence had “the optics of doubting our personnel board,” and argued for moving forward with the town’s preferred candidate-selection practices; multiple councilors said they wanted the screening process codified in the council governance policy so future searches follow a clear, published path.
Next steps: The council directed staff to re-advertise the position (deadline cited at the meeting: Feb. 14) with the job description and salary range to return to the council for final approval. The council asked the personnel board to screen applications and deliver recommended finalists for council interviews; council members asked the solicitor and clerk to ensure any document exchanges comply with open-meetings requirements and redaction rules for personal identifying information.
