Select Board chooses process and appoints five members to Town Manager Steering Committee

The Select Board on Jan. 7 adopted a process for forming the Town Manager Steering Committee and appointed five community members to serve on the panel that will work with the Select Board and a recruitment advisor on the search for a new town manager.

Chair Maureen and the board presented two proposed five‑person slates and gave members the option to: endorse slate A, endorse slate B or each submit individual five‑person preferences from a larger pool. The board voted 4–1 (one member voted no) to have each Select Board member submit their preferred slate of five names. For transparency, the board members then publicly read their five choices and staff tallied the results.

The five people receiving the highest tallies and appointed to the Town Manager Steering Committee were: Arthur Skamis (5 votes), Walter Teipert (5 votes), Corinne Doherty (5 votes), Eric Mitchell (3 votes) and Steven Grisdorf (3 votes). The board voted to appoint those five candidates; the Select Board will work with staff to receive resumes and begin interviews in February, with the board planning to bring candidates to the full board in March.

During discussion, a resident speaker urged that the Human Rights and Inclusion Committee be represented on the screening panel. A Select Board member said the recruitment advisor had recommended limiting the committee to five members to facilitate efficient interviewing and that Maureen and the Select Board chair will lead the work with the recruitment advisor. Select Board members also directed staff to collect resumes and begin scheduling interviews soon.

Ending

The Select Board’s appointments finalize the seven‑member search group (the two chairs plus the five appointed community members). The panel will proceed with screening and interviews; staff expect the screening process to begin in February and candidate presentations to come before the full board in March.