Needham search committee moves into executive session after consultant reports a dozen applicants, cites tight manager market

The Town of Needham town manager select/search committee elected a chair and clerk by unanimous voice vote and then voted unanimously to enter executive session Feb. 24 to review resumes and consider finalists for town manager, the committee said. Community Paradigm Associates presented the search process and recruitment outreach results before the committee moved behind closed doors under Massachusetts law.

The presentation summarized the committee-approved position statement, the consultant’s outreach steps and the applicant response. Paul Albert of Community Paradigm Associates said the firm posted the recruitment on the Massachusetts Municipal Association and International City/County Management Association channels, linked to Women Leading Government, contacted graduate public-administration programs in the region, used the firm’s roughly 400-person database and promoted the vacancy at the statewide municipal association conference. “We ended up with a little over a dozen people that have expressed interest in the position,” Albert said, adding that the market for municipal managers is currently a “seller’s market.”

The consultant told the committee the search team began work in November, spent December into January drafting the position statement, and posted the vacancy after the Jan. 21 board meeting. Albert described factors that limited the applicant pool for Needham: proximity to Boston and Metro-Boston housing and commute costs, a crowded regional market with similar-size communities offering comparable pay, and turnover in nearby communities that has left many managers recently hired and unlikely to move. He also noted the ICMA code of ethics expectation that managers remain at least two years in a post, which can reduce near-term mobility.

Following the presentation, a committee member moved to enter executive session pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 30A, § 21(a)(8) to review resumes and continue consideration and interviews of applicants to present finalists to the Select Board for possible appointment as town manager. The motion stated that discussing candidates in open session would be detrimental to recruitment. The committee voted in roll call to enter executive session; the meeting record indicates the committee did not plan to return to open session that evening.

The committee did not disclose candidate names or interview outcomes in open session. The meeting record shows the committee will review candidates in executive session and later present finalists to the Select Board for potential appointment, but no appointment actions or finalist names were revealed in the public portion of the meeting.

Meeting participants included municipal officials, advisory committee chairs and the consultant. The committee’s next public steps will depend on its private review of resumes and interviews, after which it will forward finalists to the Select Board, as described in the motion made at the meeting.