Meekins is acting town administrator; Select Board questions temporary role

Who should be running the town of Grafton when there isn’t a town administrator?

And why wasn’t this decided before the Select Board and former Town Administrator Tim McInerney formally parted ways?

Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Meekins remains the acting town administrator after the Select Board Tuesday put off a decision on appointing her as temporary town administrator or advertising for the role.

“Why wouldn’t we choose the assistant town administrator?” asked Select Board member Doreen DeFazio, who earlier in the meeting was critical of the board’s decision to part with McInerney.

Meekins, who has a masters in public administration from Clark University, joined the town in October 2016 as McInerney’s assistant, stepping into the assistant town administrator role in August 2017. She had interned in the town administrator’s office in 2012 as well as working in finance positions for Weston and Newton.

While it seems like a simple title change, an “acting” administrator is someone who steps in when the town administrator is out-of-town or ill. A temporary or interim town administrator has the authority to make new appointments and otherwise run the town. A temporary administrator may only be appointed for a period of six months.

“If the board chose to appoint me tonight, I would take over both offices,” Meekins said.

Several board members had concerns. Mat Often questioned whether it was fair to ask Meekins to fill both roles for such a long period.  Colleen Roy wanted to know the cost of hiring Meekins vs. the cost of advertising for and hiring a temporary person.

“With all due respect, this should have been done before we made the decision with the former  town administrator,” DeFazio said.

Roy called her on her comment, reminding her that legal counsel told the board they could not discuss replacements for McInerney before making a separation agreement.

“I don’t like to be told that this is my option but I agree with Doreen, this has to be done right now,” Ed Prisby said before motioning to advertise for a temporary administrator.

Chairman Peter Carlson reminded the board they needed to fill the position as soon as possible, that funding was already available for Meekins, and the costs of hiring another person were unknown.

“People do not come into an assistant town administrator position without the expectation that they will be stepping in,” Carlson said. “I have all the confidence in the world in Ms. Meekins to do the job…. not only will she be able to hit the ground running, but she knows where everything is today.”

The board asked Carlson to look into costs of Meekins vs. a new person to discuss the matter next week.

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