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Search committee urges community input, staff interviews in Delray town manager search
Summary
A Delray search committee recommended delaying candidate interviews until a new select board member is seated, soliciting community input via survey, involving department heads in finalist interviews, and broadening job advertising; the board said it will review the recommendations at a future meeting.
A search committee presented a set of recommendations to the Delray Board of Selectmen on May 26, 2026, urging broad community input and staff involvement in hiring the town's next manager. The committee recommended a public survey at a town meeting and online, delaying finalist interviews until a new select board member is seated in about two and a half weeks, and expanding recruitment channels to Better Communities.com and LinkedIn. (Kimberly, search committee member)
The committee also said it had budgeted funds to use the MMA to assist with the search and recommended that department heads participate in finalist interviews so staff can assess how well a candidate would work across departments. "I think community input is really important," the presenter said, and listed qualities the committee sought in a candidate: integrity, judgment, financial and operational competence, strong communication, transparency, leadership, municipal-law familiarity, grant-writing and intergovernmental skills, and crisis management ability. (Kimberly)
Select board member Gillian asked when the board would decide which recommendations to adopt; board members replied they had just received the recommendations and expected to review them before acting, with the next meeting suggested as the earliest likely point for deliberation. "We've just been presented with this, so we have to look through it," one member said. (Gillian; Chair)
Anthony, who described his prior experience with municipal searches, advocated for staff interviews as a decisive factor: "For me, the decision came down to which staff that I felt like I meshed with best," he said, describing procedures used in Winthrop and Farmington where finalists met with department directors as part of the evaluation. A department head present agreed, calling staff collaboration the committee's top recommendation.
The committee will provide its written document to remote member Barbara by email so she can review it; the board did not take formal action on the recommendations at the meeting and moved later into executive session on a separate personnel matter. The board said it will consult the town lawyer about the timing and specifics of any future vote on the committee's proposals.
