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Mayor pitches chief of staff role to centralize facilities oversight; committee requests budget and redline
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Summary
The mayor proposed reclassifying the executive aide to a chief of staff with added oversight of municipal facilities and the Waterford Community Center to address deferred maintenance and dispersed communications; councilors asked for a redlined job description and a written budget breakdown before further action.
The mayor of Gardner (speaker S4) presented a draft job description on April 14 proposing a chief of staff position that would centralize oversight of custodial and facilities functions, including oversight of the Waterford Community Center, to reduce deferred maintenance and streamline communications across departments.
The mayor said the city has experienced repeated maintenance emergencies (a winter boiler leak that closed city hall, roof leaks at the Pleasant Street building, an emergency repointing at the police station) and argued that a centralized point of contact would improve scheduling, prioritize work, and reduce emergency repairs. He noted the proposed reclassification would increase pay by roughly $30,000 relative to the current executive‑aide role and that some of the additional cost could be covered by local receipts and savings from leased properties and recent property sales.
Several committee members said they supported the idea in principle but asked for more detail. Requests included a redlined version of the job description showing additions, a clear breakdown of the day‑to‑day duties that would differ from the current executive aide role, and a written budget showing the funding source for the proposed pay increase and any offsets. One councilor suggested presenting an alternate submission that would create a facilities manager position without the broader chief‑of‑staff duties so the committee could compare costs and responsibilities.
The mayor said the proposal has been under discussion for about a year and offered to provide written responses to questions before the next meeting.
Next steps: the item will remain on the committee agenda for further review and the mayor will supply a redline and a written budget impact statement.
