Select Board: Interim town administrator should be an outsider

An attempt to appoint Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Meekins the interim town administrator fell flat Thursday night, with the Select Board voting 3-2 against.

With Meekins taking her vacation next week, the Select Board did approve making her acting town administrator for 14 days, which will at least allow her to appoint someone to at least sign next week’s town employee payroll.

It has now been a week since the Select Board and former Town Administrator Tim McInerney agreed to part ways, which cost the town $147,500 — a year’s salary — under the terms of his contract. That’s left Meekins with the responsibility for running the office, without the power to make major decisions.

While Meekins expressed interest in taking on the TA’s role as an interim while the Select Board runs a search for the next town administrator, Select Board members Colleen Roy, Ed Prisby and Mat Often felt an experienced outsider would be a better fit.

“I don’t want to accidentally set her up to fail,” Roy said. She was also concerned that having Meekins serve as both interim TA and her role as assistant would not only give her too much work, but would also call into question whether an assistant is needed at all.

“I know Becca is the quick and easy answer… but quick and easy isn’t always right and I don’t want to get this wrong,” Roy said.

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.

“The end result for me is to bring in the most dynamic and strong town administrator that we can,” Prisby said. He suggested that the town hire an interim town administrator with the understanding that that person would not be in the running for the permanent job.

There’s a precedent to that. McInerney was originally hired as interim town administrator after the resignation of Natalie Lashmit in fall 2008. He was later one of several candidates in contention for the full-time position and ultimately was hired based on his work and familiarity with the town as interim.

“I want to start ratcheting down the drama here,” Prisby said.

Select Board member Doreen DeFazio and Chairman Peter Carlson, both favored appointing Meekins as interim. DeFazio said she was concerned about staff morale, noting that department heads she spoke to the day prior were in favor of Meekins over an unknown administrator.

Meekins praised Municipal Center staff, saying she knew they will step up and support her if she’s appointed.

“I have established relationships with these people,” she said. “They read the news. They know what’s going on here.”

“To keep it short and sweet: I’m going to rely on the staff just like I do all the time,” she added. “They’re going to continue going above and beyond all the time… People have already come up to me and said ‘whatever you need, I’m here.”

Many retired administrators work as interims as a profession, Prisby said, and he’d prefer to get someone into Grafton who would be neutral.

“I’m getting a little sick of the camps. I’m tired of the back and forth,” he added. “I want someone with no skin in this game…

what it doesn’t need is more intrigue and more questions about who is going to get the job.”

Carlson referred back to Lashmit’s resignation, a time when the town did not have an assistant town administrator. The then-town accountant stepped in as the acting town administrator and managed to get the town through a fall Town Meeting, he said.

“We have someone who is well-versed in working with the town departments,” Carlson said. “We should consider ourselves lucky to have someone in this position.”

The Select Board meets next on Tuesday to discuss advertising for the interim town administrator position.

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