Select Board forms ad hoc town-administrator screening committee, sets timeline for member responses

The Select Board voted on July 23 to create a five-member ad hoc town-administrator screening committee to evaluate applications and recommend finalists for the board’s consideration.

Chair and board members discussed committee composition and settled on five members: one member of the Advisory Committee, one town-elected school-committee member who is a Templeton resident, two department-head representatives (not identified to a specific department in the vote), and one citizen-at-large. The board instructed staff to solicit volunteers and return nominations promptly.

Why it matters: The town is conducting a recruitment for a permanent town administrator. A screening committee is intended to review and score applicants, perform initial interviews, and forward recommended finalists to the Select Board, which will make the appointment. Board members emphasized screening for fit as well as technical skill.

Board members asked that the screening committee be given clear 'guardrails' — a written charge that specifies the committee’s role, question sets for interviews, evaluation criteria, confidentiality rules and a schedule. One board member agreed to prepare a draft list of guardrails and to return it to the group.

The Select Board voted to form the committee and asked the town administrator’s office to solicit candidates by July 29; the board discussed holding a special meeting on July 30 to appoint members if staff returns names in time. The board also agreed that the committee would be ad hoc to avoid open-meeting-law complications and that the Select Board would set the committee’s charge to avoid scope creep.

Ending: The board formed the ad hoc screening committee (5 members), asked staff to solicit and return candidates by a specified deadline and asked the appointed member to report back with a recommended shortlist once interviews are complete.