WHITMAN – Now that Whitman has a new town administrator in Mary Beth Carter, the work begins on finding an assistant administrator.
“Now that we have a town administrator, I think we need to move to get the assistant in place sooner, rather than later,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said at the Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting.
He suggested a small committee, consisting of a couple of selectmen, a department head and Carter, undertake the screening interviews after the job is posted
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if the board was interested in looking at an assistant administrator or going with a previous suggestion of changing plans and hiring a human resource officer.
“I think we’re going to go back to the ATA,” LaMattina said. “But, I guess we should probably discuss that.”
Salvucci agreed that an assistant administrator would be the best option.
“When down the road, it’s time to retire, it’s part of your job to teach the person – that is, your assistant – to be able to take over, if that’s our choice,” he said. “I’m always one for promoting from within.”
But he suggested “extending the position” to include other things such as grant-writing and in this day and age, a human resource officer can be very important.
“I’m wondering if a person can do both,” he said.
LaMattina said grant-writing and human resources were included in the desired skill set of the original ATA position.
“I think the job, combined with the town administrator job is complex and is multi-layered,” Select Board member Shaw Kain said. “I have full faith in [Carter’s] leadership, that for me, I’m primarily going to be leaning on your recommendation – your skill set, the skill set that’s necessary to do the job.”
He said that identifying the person who can work best with Carter is the recommendation he’s looking for in an ATA.
Select Board member Justin Evans, who served on the last two selection committees, said the HR director/grant writer position didn’t draw quite the same pool of applicants as an ATA.
“At least my experience over the last year and a half doing this, we got a bigger candidate pool when we put it out as an ATA even though it was larger skill sets we were looking for,” he said.
Evans and Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski volunteered to serve again on a search committee as did Fire Chief Timothy, along with Carter.
Salvucci asked if administrative assistant Laurie O’Brien should also sit in on interviews since she would work closely with the new ATA.
“I don’t like the idea of somebody working under somebody hiring them – their potential boss,” LaMattina said.
Kowalski said he wanted to hear Carter’s preference for the search.
“This is going to be your crew,” he said.
“I was thinking of an assistant town administrator that would have grant-writing [skills],” she said. “I would like to see grant-writing and procurement as well as to help me with the other duties that I have, as well, on my plate, and some human resource work, as well.”
She said the town had done that in the past.
Carter will compose and post the job description and salary range for the board to review and vote on at its next meeting. The committee will review the applications and chose some candidates to interview with an eye toward recommending, through Carter to the board, for final interviews.
COVID update
In other business, Clancy, in his regular COVID-19 update, said that as of Feb. 21, there had been an additional 41 cases in Whitman out of 313 tests conducted – for a positivity rate of just over 13 percent.
“It’s only gone up four people from the previous week,” he said. “We seem to remain constant in that area. We haven’t had any significant spikes, but we have been climbing.”
He said the COVID team is monitoring the situation closely and will advise the Select Board if anything drastic changes.
Civil Service list
Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bombadier received the board’s approval to call for a Civil Service appointment list for two new department hires.
The potential hirees have served in part-time roles at the department since 2017 – Robert Hoey is a 13-year as a supervisor at Massasoit Community College as well. Patrick Hickey has been working for the department as a reserve officer, filling in shifts.
“They’re both great candidates,” Bombardier said. “They both meet all the criteria and we’re asking for you to move forward with the process. … They’re the only reserve officers we have left and, after they’re gone off the list, we don’t anticipate ever having reserve officers come back because there’s no mechanism in place anymore because of the post commission. There’s no part-time academy.”
Comfort dog
The Select Board also voted to accept the Police Department’s proposal for a community resource dog.
“This is a project we’ve been contemplating over the last couple of years,” Bombardier said. “We think there’s some value in having a community resource/comfort dog.”
He said the move is growing in popularity among police departments for its value in addressing the need for communication with some communities, such as autistic people. Hanson has had one for about a year, and Plymouth and Hanover just obtained comfort dogs.
Whitman is working with the same company that Hanson did – Golden Opportunities for Independence (GOFI), of Walpole – which provides the dogs, provide training (a two-year process) and takes care of initial medical expenses for the dog.
Bombardier said a resident has approached the department about donating some money toward the project, a $5,000 donation that would cover about 25 percent of the cost, and the Plymouth County DA’s office has grants the town could apply for to help further defray costs.
“They have assured us we will be at the top of the list for an upcoming grant [$5,000], if we so choose,” he said. The other half of the cost would need to come from fundraising, but Bombardier said other departments have said the public is more than willing to donate.
The dogs live with their handling officers and retrofitting cruisers is less expensive than police dogs, which must be in running vehicles for the air conditioning when they are not working. Comfort dogs are only in the vehicles long enough for transport.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon wants to award the handler’s role through a bid process with criteria officers need to meet in order to apply.