New Shoreham appoints Amy Lewis Land town manager, names Mona Helterlein finance director; extends planning contract and hires consultant for public-safety site

The New Shoreham Town Council took several personnel and planning actions at its June 17 meeting: it appointed Amy Lewis Land as town manager, appointed Mona Helterlein as finance director, authorized a contract extension with Libra Planners for town planning services, and approved a consulting contract with Scott Catell to support the public-safety complex needs assessment and the drafting of an RFQ for design services.

Appointments: The council voted unanimously to appoint Amy Lewis Land as town manager and to approve a three‑year term unemployment agreement for that position. The council also appointed Mona Helterlein as finance director and approved a three‑year contract for that role; Millie’s contract (another staff appointment) was deferred until she returns from vacation.

Planning services: The council authorized a contract extension with Libra Planners for up to $50,000 of planning services funded in the current budget. Council members clarified the extension does not cover the comprehensive plan update — the comp plan will be procured separately through an RFQ — and that Peter Friedrichs (Libra) is the principal planner currently supporting the town.

Public-safety complex consulting: The council authorized a contract with Scott Catell to support the building committee’s needs assessment and to draft an RFQ for architecture and design services related to a proposed town public-safety complex. Committee members said the consultant is experienced with recent fire-station projects and has attended multiple committee meetings; the contract will be paid from the existing $3.5 million federal appropriation for the project.

Why it matters: The appointments put key administrative positions on multi-year contracts and seek to stabilize planning support. The Scott Catell contract moves the public-safety project toward a formal procurement and design process; committee members said they prefer a new building to renovating existing facilities but have not yet advanced a design to the council.

Operational and budget notes: Council members also reviewed several finance items and authorized certain over-expenditures and capital carryovers (agenda items later in the meeting) to close out the fiscal year; the town’s finance director provided a detailed update on revenues, short-term rental receipts and the Thomas House construction payments.

Quotes

"We will be issuing an RFQ for the comp plan shortly," a planning staff member said when the council discussed separating comp-plan work from the Libra contract extension.

"He has been at a lot of our meetings. I think maybe four of the five," a committee member said of consultant Scott Catell’s involvement with the public-safety committee.

Ending

Councilors said they will follow up on the public-safety timeline, housing the Thomas House project completion and next steps on comp-plan procurement; Millie’s appointment was deferred until she is available to attend a council meeting.