Select Board debates Town Manager Act revisions; agrees to keep appointing authority while allowing delegation and to separate recall as a home‑rule petition

The Select Board spent substantial time reviewing proposed revisions to the Town Manager Act prepared by a review committee and legal staff. The board wrestled with appointment authority, reporting lines, personnel protections and the process to handle recalls, ultimately agreeing to several compromises and to treat recall provisions separately as a home‑rule petition.

Key outcomes and points of debate

Appointment of Town Accountant. The review committee recommended making the Town Manager the appointing authority for the town accountant. Town counsel Kate Connolly noted that Massachusetts General Laws authorize the Select Board to appoint a town accountant under G.L. c.41 §55, but that delegation to the town manager is common practice in many towns. After discussion the board agreed to preserve the Select Board as the appointing authority in the charter text while adding explicit language that would allow the Select Board to delegate appointment authority to the Town Manager and to codify notification and reporting expectations. That compromise preserves a formal check while reflecting modern practice.

Residency. Members debated whether to require the town manager to be a town resident. Legal counsel said no statutory residency requirement exists. Several members favored removing a strict residency requirement to broaden the candidate pool while retaining in practice an expectation that the manager will reside locally or establish residency within a reasonable time; the board agreed to remove the explicit residency requirement.

Suspension and termination language. The committee’s draft contained a specific severance-like number (up to three months' pay) for certain removals or suspensions. Board members and counsel discussed preserving the board’s discretion for 'for cause' removals while allowing negotiated contractual terms for hiring. The board agreed to clarify the "for cause" exception and preserve discretion rather than impose an unconditional automatic payout.

Reporting cadence and collective bargaining. The board removed overly prescriptive wording such as "at least monthly" for routine manager reports, because meeting schedules and statutory obligations vary. The draft was clarified to require notice to the Select Board of organizational and personnel changes and to recognize limits where collective bargaining agreements or civil‑service laws control removal or disciplinary procedures.

Recall language moved out of manager act. The review committee included recall provisions in the redline; town counsel and board members agreed that recall requires special legislation (a home‑rule petition) and should be pursued as a separate warrant article rather than being folded into the Town Manager Act.

Process and next steps. Staff will prepare an updated redline incorporating the board’s compromises: keep Select Board appointing authority for town accountant with explicit delegation language; remove hard residency requirement; clarify termination/suspension language with for‑cause protection; and remove recall from the manager act and treat it as a separate petition/warrant. The board asked town counsel and the town manager to produce proposed text for the next meeting so that the board can vote to create warrant article language for a future Town Meeting.

Why it matters: Changes to the Town Manager Act affect municipal governance, checks and balances, and hiring and oversight practices for top municipal staff. The board's decisions determine which powers remain with elected officials and which are delegated to an appointed manager.

Attribution: Discussion and proposals recorded on the meeting transcript and reported here reflect remarks by members of the Select Board, review committee chair Sally Calhoun and Town Counsel Kate Connolly.