Reporter’s Notebook: Grading the TA, losing a treasurer, and finding a fire chief

Town Administrator Evan Brassard scored a 90.6 in his 180-Day evaluation.

That’s right. Brassard has now been in the top spot for six months and, as noted in his contract, this evaluation is meant to informally note his strengths and weaknesses to date to guide him through the rest of his first year.

While most of the Select Board tended to give him him marks in the low 90s, Select Board member Ray Mead explained that he scored him in the 70s, believing that higher marks should be reserved for work above and beyond what was expected.

The full evaluation will be released to the public at a later date.

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What’s the position every town is trying to fill? That would be the role of town treasurer/collector. And guess who submitted her resignation?

Amy Perkins, Grafton’s treasurer/collector for the past three years, will have her last day on October 22. Before that, Brassard hopes to bring in a contractor to work with Perkins and get up to speed on town business.

“A town the size of Grafton, you really don’t want to mess around,” Brassard said. He said the reason for the current shortage is a certification issue — the process takes six years, a process that, like everything else, has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The search for Grafton’s first full-time fire chief is coming close to its end, according to Select Board member Doreen DeFazio, the board’s representative to the Fire Chief Search Committee.

“I was thrilled and excited coming out of the meetings,” DeFazio said of the interviews with candidates, now winnowed down to five.

The committee plans to recommend three candidates for interviews before the Select Board. Current Fire Chief Mickey Gauthier is retiring at the end of the year.

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Who doesn’t love a discussion about trash bag fees?

Brassard expects to talk trash with the Select Board in October — specifically a change to the cost of the pay-as-you-throw bags, those flimsy green things required to hold residential trash.

When they aren’t ripping, that is.

“I know it’s always a hot topic,” Brassard said.

Get your trash talk ready!

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