Eldredge Named Acting Town Administrator

 HARWICH – In a brief meeting Tuesday afternoon, the select board voted unanimously to appoint assistant town administrator Meggan Eldredge as acting town administrator until an interim town administrator is named.

 She will take over following the departure of Town Administrator Joseph Powers, whose contract expired on June 30.

 The select board did not hold a regular weekly meeting on Monday following the July 4 holiday, but called the one-agenda-item session for Tuesday to comply with the town charter. 

According to the charter, the select board shall designate, within 10 days after a vacancy, a town employee, a member of the select board or other person to perform the duties of the town administrator during the vacancy.

In Tuesday’s session, select board member Anita Doucette offered a motion to appoint Eldredge as the acting town administrator until an interim town administrator is appointed. An interim town administrator would serve until a new town administrator is hired. Estimates are that it could take eight months or more to find a permanent administrator.

In Tuesday’s session, select board member Jeffrey Handler offered an amendment to Doucette’s motion to provide a pay increase for Eldredge up to the base rate for a new town administrator, $165,000. 

Select Board Chair Donald Howell said the rate would have to be set by a contract agreement scheduled to be discussed in executive session next Monday. It was agreed that the rate be retroactive to Eldredge’s July 8 appointment.

  The select board continues to debate whether to appoint Eldredge as the interim town administrator, or to bring in an outside candidate. On June 30 Howell raised the issue of interviewing two former town administrators who have served on the Cape who might have an interest in the interim position.

Howell named local resident Anthony Schiavi as one of the possible candidates, but he declined to name the second candidate at that time because he did not have permission from that former town administrator. Howell said Schiavi has committed to giving the town a 40-hour week.

Handler said he did not know Schiavi, but he would be happy to have a conversation with him to “see what he would bring to us, to see if there is some commonality there.” 

Schiavi is a retired Air Force Brigadier General who served as executive director of the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne in 2012 and 2013. He served as the town manager of Ashland from 2013 to 2016 and as town administrator in Bourne from 2019 to 2021.

“I think he’s potentially excellent,” said Howell.

Handler said former select board member Mary Anderson sent a letter saying that Eldredge has done an exemplary job on everything she has undertaken and is the logical choice to be the interim town administrator. Eldredge knows the town thoroughly and has filled in for the town administrator on many occasions and done a great job by all accounts, Anderson wrote.

 “This certainly isn’t a foreign concept,” Anderson’s letter reads. “Our current town administrator had been our assistant town administrator for only four or five months when he was put in the role of acting town administrator. He did that job for 18 months with no assistant town administrator.”

 Eldredge earlier in the meeting provided the select board with an extensive status report on town procurements. Handler wanted to know if Schiavi has a state procurement certification; procurement is a big part of the job, he said. Howell said he was unaware of Schiavi’s procurement certification status, but added that Schiavi was a full-time administrator in communities in Massachusetts, implying that he likely has certification. 

 Howell said he would like to have Schiavi in for discussions when all five board members are available.

“I made my position clear in the last meeting, and I stand by what I said. I’m not going to change my opinion,” Handler said of his support for Eldredge. “However, if the board wants to bring him in, it’s nothing against Mr. Schiavi. It’s just that I feel we have the right person in place and trust that person can do the job. If you want to bring him in, I certainly will have questions for him, and the first one would be are you a certified procurement officer. That’s where I stand.”

The board agreed to invite Schiavi to its Monday, July 14 meeting.