##VIDEO ID:UQZxMI2Lp78## good afternoon Hatfield welcome to the September 26 2024 meeting of the Hatfield select board um the sole purpose of today's meeting is to conduct Town Administrator interviews we're on a fairly tight schedule we have four candidates we're going to interview today the first has arrived and is um certainly someone familiar to all of us Brian morard um former member of the select board um was one of the candidates that was put forward by the um the search committee so I do want to backtrack there was a search committee that reviewed all um all applicants interviewed some and moved forward for finalists um all of whom we're going to be interviewing today so In fairness to time we have um you know these are timed interviews for each candidate um I do want to just say quickly we have a bunch of questions that we hope to get through all of them um and so we'll try to go as quickly as possible but obviously getting to the heart of the answers so I am going to start first of all welcome thank you for likewise um so congratulations on being a finalist for the Town Administrator position in Hatfield can you give us a brief introduction of yourself and include what you think is the most relevant experience that has prepared you for this position and what draws you to Hatfield so so um I thank you for having me first off it's nice to see all of you um well what what Drew us to I'll start with the last part first that if I may so of course what what Drew us to Hatfield as a family it wasn't we were drawn here for political reasons but um because of the type of community so we moved here in 1999 Mrs furch's house I like to throw that out there because people might not know which home we live in but so we moved here 25 years ago and it was because of the size of the community it was because of the school district uh as far as my qualifications for uh the Town Administrator I think I would answer that in two parts I think that my background in business I'm a 40 plus year uh background in telecommunications as a project manager a project coordinator as an implementation manager uh so there was a lot of collaborative work with Team internal and external teams there was um budgeting there was uh coordination of actual work to be done at various sites on behalf of customers which I guess in in our world we'd say constituents uh and of course and I think most importantly is um my background as a selectman for nine years and a school committee member for 15 uh he here in Hatfield I also had a two-year uh school committee stint which people may or may not know when we lived in hoyo I was on the school committee there before moving to Hatfield so I I think um I think all of that together when I saw the posting for the position that Marlene will be uh is is soon to be taking a well-deserved retirement um and I saw what was spelled out as far as what the job description the summary of the job description do you have a background in this background you know business telecommunications it all of those things um I have all that and so uh that's what drew me to apply and again Diana I think it's it's just the background that I have I think it's a perfect fit of public sector I think it's uh along with the private sector and I think it's a good mix great as you know we're a small community can you tell us how you will become part of the community or as a member of the community already how will you reach out to the community in this new role well I I think that given my background being in the community living in the community I think that through the years I've uh established some some friendships um I've established what's a good word some leadership styles and skills for the uh department heads um certainly the constituents know me uh I I would say and you you guys are elected officials so you're probably going to know where I'm coming from but I think that while as a select board member even a school committee member um often times people don't necess constituents don't necessarily are towns people don't necessarily agree with your decision right we always make decisions whether it's to raise rates on something or what have you but I I would suggest that even if people didn't agree with some of my positions or um positions or votes I think the vast majority of Hatfield folks would agree that I'm fair I'm open-minded and I put thought into whatever Communications I was trying to get across to people you know it wasn't just flying off the handle that you know I did research which I would continue to do on behalf of the board if I'm selected as your Town Administrator um so I I think that's probably uh the best way uh to and I think communication um is key you know let people know whether it's on TV and Forum like this with John uh the cable um if it's something urgent you know we use the rooc call um you know open door policy to have people come in and have conversations uh I'm very good because my background has uh afforded me or because of my background I've had to be uh very good at returning phone calls emails Etc I mean I'm on it because I don't like things hanging around so there won't be a communication issue as far as response time uh people might not like the answer I give them but but it'll be the answer it'll be the answer that that it is you along the same lines of communication we televise the meetings of many of our boards and committees and we use our website and social media to seminate news but still there are communication gaps sometimes please to describe how you think a small town can best communicate with its residents well I didn't know that was going to be the follow-up question to what I just answered I mean I just think it's important I mean and you're right we talked about this in the search committee right here's what we here's what we the town have doing we've got the website we've got social media you know we we do the rooc calls we're televised uh the newspaper does sometimes still write articles I I you know so at a certain point you kind of say what else can we do and I would certainly uh off the top of my head I I think working perhaps with people that have a background in uh communication uh and by communic I mean social platform communication you know whether it's somebody uh at the high school or or a technology and um person might be a new Avenue but I mean we we certainly do our best they have always done our best and do uh to to communicate if there's new avenues I would certainly um be open to those to try to reach as many people as possible I know there was also talk about may maybe a sign board out front eventually I think that came from the 350th committee back a year or two ago when I was on the and I don't know where that stands but you know it would just be another if the board wanted to go that route or the town did that would just be another Avenue to let people know at least what's coming up in the near future um so as we said communication is um valued very highly by this board this has a couple of different components so can you please describe your communication Style with reference to the board as well as department heads also how will you encourage ongoing and effective communication from all department heads and how would you deal with a department head that fails to provide you with requested information what might you do to help resolve that issue so I communication is key whether it's to the public whether it's to the constituents whether it's to department heads whether it's the board of Selectmen or or other committees and committee chairman chair people uh I I think that it's just you you have to meet everybody I mean I know most people let's face it right just because of my background but I think you need to have meetings I know marleene has uh a meeting um couple times a month or at least that's what the schedule had been you know team meetings right so you you need to kind of hear and and work with department heads and other departments as what are their where are where are they standing right now with process um processes towards goals that they've already outlined uh do they have questions do they need something uh can we facilitate something um and I think that's where the Town Administrator role is sort of the the the middle man middle woman middle person between the board and the Departments the board and the public and I think that is the role one of the roles of the Town Administrator uh my management style has always been I don't want to say hands off but not in somebody's face you know kind of let people do their job but if there's an issue be able to meet with that person or department head or whoever it is and have a conversation so to the last part of that question Diana I think if it's a department head that's not giving the information to me which I wouldn't be asking for most likely unless the board of Selectmen wanted it I'd have no problem meeting with them or calling them up or saying what is it that need to do together collectively to get you to give us the information we need like are you lacking something do you need another skill do you need uh another um clarification as to what it is we're looking for and if you can't give it to us why and then I think we would have to investigate or look into why aren't we getting the information we're asking for is it a legitimate reason or is there a you know is is there another issue that's causing them to not be able to fulfill what we're looking for can you please describe how you expect to develop a working relationship with the board what does that interaction look like to you and how will you seek input from us on all matters large and small ongoing and unexpected well I think the uh as in both my public in private career have been I I have no problem asking if I feel I it direction from whoever my bosses were or team leaders or in this case the board of Selectmen you know I think we would certainly have some U meetings in the beginning uh to to make sure we're all on the same wavelength right and and if we're not I have no problem if somebody says that's not really what we were looking for Brian or if I'm not sure I would come to the board or or one of the individuals on the board that might have a particular um concern about something and say you know is this really what you're looking for here here's what I understood my task to be um but I don't think we'd have a problem communicating I I will make this perfectly clear right now I realize that as a Town Administrator I am no longer a board of selectman or a school Committee Member so I know who's who's running the show uh and so in case that's a concern of anybody I get my Marino ERS from the board of Selectmen who get their marching orders from town meeting and that's that's the way it works and so I'm certainly willing to sit there and do what the board asks of me uh we all have our own personal opinions on things but that's just what they would be a personal opinion and never never to be uttered from my lips uh because I work for you so town meeting can be confusing for residents despite our ongoing efforts to communicate the reason for all articles how can a board best prepare residents for the discussions and decisions necessary at town meeting I think part of that is excuse me and I would agree with you Ed um that can be very confusing I I know uh Joe and I and I Joel La Valley and I think Bobby bsel does the same thing and explains in the very beginning that these boards and committees have worked together over the last year and here's what we you know so please hear them out type thing I I think you know we again I it might go back to some of the social media things or or letting residents know I mean we televis the meetings we published uh in the newspaper we make phone calls when necessary Robo calls um you know maybe you know just off the top of my head maybe we have a day before or weekend before town meeting um in prompt to get together with residents that want to come in and hear about all the various articles or or if there if we if we know there's a hot article or two or three and then you those people because if I think if those people are willing to come to a um preliminary Meeting those are the same people that are going at least they plus others will be at Town meetings so they might already have a better understanding or a better feel for why the board we are asking for a certain thing for a certain cost and why it's important that it pass and what are the ramifications if it doesn't pass so I think a lot of maybe pre- toown meeting discussions we we collectively could work on something and see you know maybe what other communities do or if there's a a way of reaching out to people to give them the heads up especially those contentious articles because you know some are some are boilerplate as we know and then others are but the one you're waiting I mean you never know about something right um so Our Town Administrator works as a human resource officer um interacting with all Town employees and overseeing the contract negotiation process with both our unions and department heads can you describe your style of dealing with Personnel issues that may arise and give us an example of how you've been successful or creative in solving a sensitive or complicated Personnel situation sure so uh the yes the Town Administrator wears many many hats right Marlin um you know I I think the The Upfront part of this is you've got to have an HR policy that spells everything out so that if and when there's an issue it's pretty black and white as to what where the answer can be found um but along those lines I think it depending on what part of the HR policy isn't being followed is it is it intentional is it you know by accident or didn't understand what that policy was I think they could be handled a little bit differently I mean the the uh employee would need each of the let's say those two circumstances the employee and each of those would would need to you know have a conversation with the Town Administrator but I I think the Town Administrator most likely would know that you know they're new they didn't know you had to do this had that so it could be a remediation type of a uh of action that you would do you know whether it's some sort of uh training within whatever the U policy that wasn't adhere to um versus somebody who intentionally or appears who intentionally have violated the HR policy to the detriment of of the town if if they're on the hook for something or others I think that could be handled a little bit differently and might need disciplinary action so so I think each case might might be a little bit different um for myself um i' I've actually been in a situation uh it it wasn't so much an HR policy as much as it was a company policy but it was one of those had to have a conversation with somebody and say this is not the way we do this and you know they were like oh I I didn't know that I mean so it was kind of a quick and easy sort of resolution um but I I think it starts with having an HR policy and I suppose things can always arise but that pretty much spells out specifically where things are as far as the contracts I've actually helped negotiate contracts both on the school side and and I know the Town Administrator for Hatfield doesn't get involved with the school necessarily directly um but but and the DPW contract um and as a board of selectman member we've been involved the contracts for all the all the team uh all the department heads Through The Years while while marleene has done uh much of or most of the leg work ultimately it was up to the board as well to work with the Town Administrator to go through the the contract and make sure everything lined up great thanks yeah can you give us specific examples of how you participated in contract negotiations and managed contracts to ensure compliance by both the town and employees okay I swear I didn't know that was like the next question but so I've worked on the contracts um the schools were uh the school contracts in the past I I mean I haven't been on the school committee in years but you know they were pretty involved because it got down into you know uh not only the superintendent was directly with the school committee um and then some of the lead uh depart not department heads but depending on their position within the schools dealt directly with the superintendent but the teachers contract had various um aspects to it as far as salary increases and time off and you know so it was a little more complicated I would say uh so we always worked with the the school department attorney on that as well as whoever the teachers union had as as a negotiating players at the table um the town side of it from a contractual perspective uh I had worked on the last couple of DP I worked on a couple of DPW contracts with um the union representative uh with from the town and then the Teamster or you know Teamsters representative uh and I mean I think we all just kind of and Marlene was always part of it and and the DPW director because it was the DPW contract you know we all did our homework and then came together had conversations agreed on certain things and then went back on things that weren't agreed upon then and everybody did their homework you know it it was a give and take and back and forth type thing but um I think when you're dealing with contract negotiations it's important to hear you've got to make sure you're listening to the other side if you will um so that you understand where they're coming from you know it wasn't always just about money or it wasn't always just about there was combination of things and you've got to be willing to give and take and that's what contract any kind of contract negotiation is all about so uh and I I think I'm very open-minded as far as hearing what people have to say and understanding what in is in the town's best interest if I'm the Town Administrator what's in the board's best interest and you know com trying to get and work towards a middle a middle ground okay this is a long one okay Hatfield uses a team approach to stop to our annual budget process we start by communicating with all of our department heads and then spend months working on a budget with our financial team that includes our finance committee Treasurer and accountant the Town Administrator serves as a quarterback so to speak we would be very open to streamlining the process to the extent that it is possible all while making sure residents have a chance to witness how the budget is built so they are as knowledgeable and prepared as possible to make decisions at town meeting please describe your experience and working on Municipal budget including specifics about the computer programs you used and then can you please tell us about a budget practice that you have used that you found particularly successful or efficient that is a long one all right so um well honestly my my experience with um with processing the budget putting the helping put the budget together has been sitting in one of your seats so um you know nine budgets as a selectman 15 Town budgets as a school Committee Member so that's my experience I mean I haven't and I think that the process so streamlining the process I I think I'd have to be sitting in the seat to be honest with you Ed I mean because we Marlene absolutely is the quarterback of this whole thing but the the important thing that you mentioned is all the Departments working together Treasurer you know the assessor and of course the finance committee I think that upfront the information that we've been asking for the last few years early you know I think late December you might send out the the email like guess what's coming after the first of the year um I think that's important because it lets the department heads or those departments think about okay here we go again it's that time of year and to really sit down and maybe even maybe even as a Town Administrator meet with them because I know they all send the email and they you know to to what they think their budget needs to be for the following fiscal year right um but to try to get a a a like a personal feel of what that department may need I I think that's important um because you then you can have an understanding of why they're asking for what they're asking whether it's um equipment doesn't need to a capital Improvement um article you know you you need to get a a feel for why they're asking for what they're asking for uh I think that could be handled uh as a Town Administrator with with the department and that may be happening now I wouldn't um I wouldn't doubt that it is but so that when the letter then gets brought to the board of Selectmen and the finance committee and the financial team the Town Administrator can can speak to if that department head's not here as to why this request is what it is and the reasons for it because you know sitting there we've gotten things in the pth and we just we didn't understand why necessarily somebody was asking for other than a salary increase we didn't necessarily understand why they were asking for something and I think if we know coming into the board of Select Comm and finance committee meeting as to what those things are and have an understanding for it we can speak to it better and hopefully make the case for why that particular department needs what they need okay and have you used any software program sorry thanks that was a long question so I personally to be honest other than Excel you know like I I have I have not to to be perfectly honest I mean I just haven't had that role in the in the public sector and we had other ways of it it was different but I mean I had to show um costs and revenue and expenses in the you know in the Telecommunications World by doing spreadsheets and saying we came in under budget here or this cost a little bit more we saved money here you know those types of things but they weren't specific to a to a town type of budget um the Town Administrator serves as a procurement officer for Hatfield this involves a solid understanding of the state's procurement laws and a strict adherence to all of those requirements can you describe your experience with this process including preparing bid specifications tracking bids and warding contracts sure and sorry go ahead that's it no was that another long one no no that's it can you tell who wrote These so uh I have not other than uh through osmosis with with marleene um working on on bids and contracts and being on the the select board side and um you know the the big contract recently well the Waste Water treatment plan of course but you know we we the board worked with Dave pricket to help with that uh and and I would imagine a lot of the information that was input and used uh and I don't want to speak for Marling but I'm assuming you gather information from those departments and engineers and things and that that helps when it comes to um the bid specifications to answer your question Diana I I have not personally requested any sort of on the public in the public sector I request for bids what I have done however is I've taken and passed the three-day certification for procurement for for Town procurement officer so I I've got the um got the certification I just have not had an opportunity or been in a position to use it uh and I I think that Hatfield is in an ideal position to have a Town Administrator who's going to be here for two months regardless of who you hire but to be here and you know if I'm fortunate enough to be that candidate um that for sure is one of the things I'd want to work with Marlene on um you know but I I have the certification I I pass it back in June um and I again I think it's important that whoever's here to have the guidance of of Marlene is is going to be crucial the I think the good news is uh if this is is an opportune time to say it I don't know but I think the good news is if it were me any dealings with the majority of dealings with marleene over the next two months before she retires is going to be about ta Town Administrator type things and that would be one of them um I really don't need a lot of assistance at this point getting to know who all the department heads are and who the town's people are and who the select board is and all you know that is already taken care of so I would I would hope to utilize Marlene's knowledge um on some of those Town Administrator tasks that that I'm not familiar with not so much because I wasn't a town well because I wasn't a Town Administrator but I mean some of them I think are transferable having been a business person and been in the business community and having uh you know in the private sector um so I think a lot of that knowledge is transferable but you know some of those things procurement is is would certainly be be one of them to just see how you do it I mean it's it's a system database and you just have to meet the guidelines and I'm sure it's a little more involved than that but I mean that's that's kind of what you do grants are an invaluable Financial resource for the town of Hatfield allowing us to do projects and offer programs that would be unaffordable otherwise please tell us and be specific as possible of grants that you have applied for then awarded and then executed including reporting the granting agency and more specifically do you have direct experience with large and more demanding Grant programs like Mass works so um not having been a Town Administrator uh I I can pull that apart a bit but some of that wouldn't necessarily apply at this point uh I would say that I have a lot of experience with the mass Works grant for route five um I was the chairman of the select board when we accepted the $2.1 million check from secretary Keli uh as far as looking for or receiving grants a lot of them are uh put forth by Senator kord's office or um representative sabadosa I have personal connections with both of them and their offices uh the mass Works Grant route five uh which I know is gotten additional funding uh but we worked very hard on that mass Works Grant we actually had people from that department come out and educate us as to how to improve our our submission which ultimately got us to where we needed to be um but in that particular case regarding the grant um I worked with the board of course uh marleene uh department heads building inspector and the residents on route five right I mean we we coordinated having them in to talk to us about concerns we explained what it was all about we received letters of support from businesses and residents I mean so I was involved with that aspect of of the grant uh was I sitting at the computer inputting the information no was I assisting and getting the information that needed to be input to the computer yes um and again being from the private sector and not the public sector and not being a Town Administrator currently I just haven't been in a position to uh input the information but that would go back to what I mentioned earlier or in the last question about that would be something I'd want to you know pick Marlene's brain about uh as far as inputting the information and uh making sure we were meeting guidelines as far as updates and those types of things and KN the finances that have taken place thus far which I know a lot of Grant applications that's exactly what they're looking for are you spending the money wisely have you done it when we told you to spend you know and and so uh I would I would imagine I could learn certainly learn a lot from Marlene and I I would venture to say that those various departments uh as well as our financial teams are going to be part of gathering that information so that it can be put into into whatever system or or qualifying grant information is being looked for just a few more questions that's okay so I'm in no rush hey towns have often have projects that take years to complete and Hatfield's no different additionally we have several large projects that we hope to at least explore in the next five to 10 years such as a public safety building or a Council on Aging space what is your direct experience with managing large projects from idea to completion well I I to your point that I I think exactly what you just said is exactly what my experience is right I mean route five the route five project for example started before I was on the select board and I was on a select board for nine years and I've been off it for one so it started more than 10 years ago was Jeff Bole um might might have been um Ed leco I I don't know who the board was when when really started started and and then here we are 10 years later it's almost finished um so and I get it there it it's it usually boils down to money it usually boils it down to being able to let the town's people know what the benefit is of doing this project and that doesn't always happen the first two 3 four years right but it doesn't mean the need doesn't go it the need goes away and so um you know I I think it's just a matter of making sure that with the board that I would do make sure I have crossed all the t's and dotted all the eyes done all the homework and here's here's what we're looking for here's what we're trying to do and here's why um route five is a good example I think the building across the street was a good example I mean that wasn't so much trying to get a grant or um finances but it was trying to find someone to save that building and it came this close to being torn down and couple of different times right and I'd like to think um and none of you were on the board I'd like to think that I to be honest um helped push that to the level where we were able to have town meeting cancel the tearing down of that building and we worked with other interdepartmental group groups here in town namely Lydia who was able to find a buyer and for $100 we now have eight condos across the street that are paying taxes that are on the payroll like it all came together and it took years um and a lot of hard work um and and it was a team effort don't get me wrong but it was this close to being torn down and and I can't think of anybody in town who reflects on it and says I sure wish that was taken down right the center school I think everybody would agree that it's it's an asset to have that in the center of town it looks great it's bringing in tax revenue um the fields were protected behind it for Town use I mean we did a lot of work to make sure that that particular project stayed um stayed um within the the town the uh wastewater treatment plant comes to mind because that particular project and I know a lot has happened since I've been off the board but you know you we talk about making tough decisions right it's I mean we had to raise water rates and Sewer rates in order to meet the minimum um town uh payments if you will to qualify for those low interest loans right that was not an easy decision for the board to make um of course we raised our own rates as well it wasn't like we just raised the towns you know because we're part of that right um but sometimes you have to make tough decisions and as a Town Administrator I would be able to those types of decisions that the board has to make uh I'd like to think I could explain it in a way that whoever I'm speaking to would understand why we did it uh they might not agree with it but they will at least have an understanding as to why particular action was taken on behalf of the community as a whole thank you so Hatfield has just completed a very in-depth comprehensive plan that will guide us into the next 20 years with a special emphasis on housing please describe any work you have done on housing projects in other communities or here well the the we we created um a committee on housing when I was on the board uh actually with Jeff uh and we never had any members of the public join it except for one um so but that was at the time that was about expedited permitting you know uh which I'm in favor of expedited permitting to get things rolling uh that was part of the route five project it was going to increase affordable housing off of Route five once that's finished um there was a business owner that wanted to expand and get into the whole solar and um housing and and all of that Diana so I mean I I and I know these questions are for all your candidates so I some parts of them don't necessarily apply to me so I'm trying to answer them as best I can um but I I so I haven't really been involved with the aspect of increased or improved housing other than from a selectman perspective which is I mean it is so important um that we we have enough housing for for the future but it's just it's a it's a tough it it it's a tough project to to have you know to to put forward and you've got to have the developers and you've got all those types of things but again I think the expedited permitting which Our Town entered into years ago is a good first start so it helps as long as the uh construction company or or however whoever is running the show meet certain qualifications sorry that's okay um and last question um what aspects of this job most inspire you and how will you measure your success as a Town Administrator okay so when I saw the initial um posting of of the position for the Town Administrator excuse me I thought that my my background and I said this in the very beginning but I kind of as a wrap up I thought my background in the private sector and the public sector were were just a a great match uh because you know Hatfields a $15 million budget I mean some might call that a business which since it's going in different directions it sort of is and that's exactly what my background has been you know my background is as my resume stated in my cover letter um it's coll my my style is collaboration it's leadership through actions you know I i' like to do what I say I'm going to do and and and I think actions speak louder than words um I have a vested interest in the success of this community I mean we moved here 25 years ago and we don't plan on going anywhere although none of us can predict the future um so I see myself as not wanting to or not I I wouldn't apply for this job if I didn't think I could do it and I wouldn't put the town in a position should I be selected as your um as your town administ rator to have the town flounder it all and I think the ideal situation is my again I I keep hitting this point but it it's my background in the private sector it's my background in the public sector and I'll go back to 202000 when I first got elected to the school committee I've always tried to make decisions that makes sense for the town as a whole you can't have special interests and be successful uh in in my opinion um and you have to be open and transparent so people need to know as I also said earlier they need to know where you're coming from they need to know that your your word is your word you know you have to have ethics uh and I would expect the same from anybody who's working for me uh or the department heads and who's working for them because if you don't have that if you don't have the trust of the board if I didn't have the trust of the board or faith in me and I didn't have um if the people didn't have the fuss the um trust or faith in me as a Town Administrator it it's it's not it's going to be a very difficult time and as I said I would not put myself in a position to fail um I I just I just think it's a perfect fit and and the icing on the cake in my opinion is is you would be getting someone that knows all the ins and outs of this community over the last 25 years and you would also have somebody so because of that you'd have somebody that who in working with marleene for the next two months or her last two months would really focus on those aspects of a Town Administrator role that I might not have and we're you know we're talking about procurement right I've got the certification but I haven't done it we're talking about the grants I've been involved with the grants but I haven't been the one to input the information uh I'm familiar with financial spreadsheets but I haven't manipulated the town and you know our our budget with the finance committee so so those would be I I don't know if Nuance is the right word but those would be the things that I would want to work with marleene and she's not going to have to take me around and introduce me to all the department heads and things like that and so it really would be on the business side of the Town Administrator role where I would see the majority of our time I'm sure things haven't changed too too much in the year since I've been on the board I mean I could be wrong but from a townwide perspective you know um and we moved here when we moved here it was and and I was like this in hoyo I I was always involved whether it was coaching or music in the schools it was the same when we moved here um and and that hasn't changed since my kids have graduated from Smith Academy I mean I was still on the select board I was even on the school committee for a while after they left so you know our our heart and soul is is here in in Hatfield and um this isn't a stepping stone for me you know a some toown administrator I mean there's a ton of them that just popped up in the there's quite a few in the area that popped up in the last few weeks so uh I'd like to sail off into the sunset of retirement down the road uh as Hatfield's Town Administrator thank you Brian you're welcome you welcome back we're continuing the um interviews for Our Town Administrator candidates we are now joined by Douglas Finn who is um also a resident of Hatfield um and was Advanced by the Town Administrator search committee to the finalists so welcome and congratulations we have a bunch of questions um we're going to try to get through all of them so maybe try to keep your answers as succinct as possible but um certainly you know take time where you need it um so first of all you know congratulations on being a finalist for the Town Administrator in Hatfield can you give give us a brief introduction of yourself and include what you think is the most relevant experience that has prepared you for this position and what drives you to Hatfield okay the onepage CV sure um first of all thank you appreciate being here appreciate uh the opportunity to speak with you I was born and raised in Northampton in the west Farm section of town um uh and were raised on a farm uh for what that means uh my father worked as a firefighter my mother as a nurse and I learned from them the important part about being employed and working um we never had much growing up and so As I Grew as I uh worked and uh after getting married and owning a house or two uh really still appreciated uh the fact that we had what we had that we worked hard for it but that it was a gift to be able to to have that um in terms of relevant experience I've observed casually uh local government uh from the mid 1990s on forward um I participated on a couple of different boards and committees um as an appointed uh member of those boards uh most recently though the first elected position I've ever held was U uh on the planning board here in Hatfield uh which I was fortunate enough to be elected to that position this past year um but uh in terms of my employment I started working formerly in a municipal setting in 2014 for the town of Deerfield as the executive assistant to the Town Administrator and I worked there for two or three years uh a move to Martha's Vineyard led to uh about a four and a half years of employment as the planning board administrator for the town of Edgartown uh and work there serving the board as well as the residents of that town uh doing administrative work research uh legal research and even representing the board uh on a couple of uh appeals so formal legal appeals were I was deposed and that sort of thing um since 2021 I've worked for the town of West Hampton as Town coordinator um which is as as close as you get to Town Administrator in West Hampton it's a very small shop uh again serving under the board uh uh the select board and acting under their Direction um helping to coordinate the activities of the Town um as Town coordinator in Westampton I don't oversee staff but I am the representative of the select board uh and join uh finance committee meetings uh planning board meetings evba meetings to represent the interests of the town uh I've built and developed uh budgets for West Hampton as well as Deerfield uh represented uh those budgets and presented those budgets at town meeting I've helped uh three towns to draft uh zoning bylaws uh and uh well I guess that's pretty much a good summary that is the the top of the the ridge so to speak as you know we are a small community can you tell us how you will become part of the community or as a member of this community already how will you reach out to the community in this new role great question uh we my wife and I have lived here for the past two years um we were startled at how really welcome and Opening Our resident our neighbors were um and we've tried to extend that same sense uh uh when we meet new people when new folks move into the neighborhood we try to approach them and welcome them as well um there's nothing better than first-person communication of course to get to know people and to and to let them get to know you however um I would probably work to um to participate in this role uh in as many public meetings as possible um even meetings where there was no formal role for me but to Simply attend to get to know people to get to understand how those committees worked and to be able to interact with with folks who um work for the town um attending Town functions is always a great thing because once you're recognized you get to know people that way um but broadly speaking I think that's where I would start great along the same lines of communication we televise the meetings of many any of our boards and committees and we use our website and social media to disseminate news but still there are communication gaps sometimes please describe how you think a small town can best communicate with its residents communication relies on three things the first is the information you want to commit the second is the ability of the sender to transmit it and third the ability of the receiver to receive it and all three things have to be a factor when communicating so if you're using a website to send information out you can craft a great message you've got a great tool a website but if someone isn't visiting that website to see that information then you've lost one of those three links in the chain and the message doesn't get delivered the information's not received so you have to understand first how people want to receive the information and how they will receive the information that could be spoken word that could be through a Facebook group post that could be through the website it may be by a text it may be by a letter they receive in the mail and all of those methods of communication have to be used um in order to ensure that you're sending your information to as broad of a a constituency as possible um I would try to see what the town could adopt what it is using currently and then try to make use of those different methods of communication maybe not in every necessary case but as judiciously as possible possible and as much as budget could afford great thank you um communication is very um highly valued by this board can you please describe your communication Style with reference to the board as well as department heads also this few few questions in here um how will you encourage ongoing and effective communication from all department heads how would you deal with a department head that fails to provide information requested and what might you do to help resolve that issue I know just a small little question there yeah um communication with department heads is critical but as I understand it in this position um this position doesn't oversee other department heads necessarily is that correct for example the police chief fire chief that sort of thing well you you don't oversee them necessarily but you're sort of commun you know you're of the communication hub for all of the department heads in the Departments yeah so again cleanest way to communicate is direct from source to receiver um so if let's say the police chief expresses concern about something that's happening the first thing I would recommend particularly if I thought that this board needed to get that information is to say let's get you on an agenda let's get you in front of the board I need you to communicate that directly to them so they can respond directly I I don't want to be an interpreter for something that's critical something that's important smaller pieces of information sure but anything that could be detrimental to the town or could be uh of critical nature I would want that communication to be direct um that if the department head or if I became aware of a situation where direct communication was necessary that a situation was kind of detrimental or critical but the department head did not want to communicate it I would probably communicate that inform or get as much information as I could first consult with the chair of the board to determine if they had a preference as to how they wanted to proceed uh second if if the chair said yes bring that to the board's attention then I would bring it directly um couching it though in in with the understanding that I may not know everything all that I you know was be bringing would be as much information as I could get um again that direct line of communication is the best preference um and I would I would certainly let that department head know that if they weren't willing to bring it to the board's attention it was my responsibility to do so okay I think I touched on everything there can you describe how you would expect to develop a working relationship with the board what does the at interaction look like to you and how will you seek input from us on all matters large and small ongoing and unexpected how would I build a relationship with the board it would take time um just like it takes time to get to know folks uh I would try uh first of all try to understand your preference for communication again lines of communication being open I would try to communicate to you uh at least a summary of information at least once weekly um or more often as necessary um probably initially directly by phone call if if that could be arranged or in person um direct lines of communication being the best um I as time went on and I understood your background your experience what if and and even your preference for dealing with certain matters individually versus you know or you know where the board defers to one of you on matters relating to the highway department let's say then I would know okay there's a situation that's come up I can go right to that one member of the board and say what do you think we should do here um but that's going to take time for me to understand and to um to really appreciate where your strengths are as well so town meeting can be confusing for residents despite our ongoing efforts to communicate the reasons for all articles how can a board best prepare residents for the discussions and decisions necessary at a town meeting there's a recurring theme with all these questions communication communication Communication in every Avenue possible every town is different every town does things a little differently in some towns uh the select board and the finance committee jointly hold a um a pre-own meeting meeting where there's the opportunity for uh members of the public to attend review the warrant articles and have a Q&A and a lot of the questions and answers can be asked and answered at that meeting without without harm without foul that does two things it helps to inform the public but it also gives the select board and the finance committee ammunition they have a preview now of the concerns that might be raised at town meeting and hopefully less surprises um some towns develop an entire program uh that's more than just the warrant but a breakdown of every single article what it means what what uh will happen if it passes what will happen if it doesn't pass um that's one method that could be done cost money to make copies duplication that sort of thing but it's very effective especially if you can get it out a couple weeks ahead of time and give people time to really review things um so those are two options there may be others we're looking at one method um being able to do a preview of town meeting on the local access and and make that video available so that's one way to do it as well um great Our Town Administrator works as our human resource officer I'm interacting with all Town Town employees and overseeing cont contract negoti negotiation process with both our Union and our department heads can you describe your style of dealing with Personnel issues that may may arise and give us an example of how you have been successful or creative in solving a sensitive or complicated Personnel situation um there's the old saying praise publicly and uh correct privately uh that would be sort of my first method uh to deal with any uh concerning um situations that might arise with an individual um and I do believe that that's true that when a team has a success then it's the team's to the team's credit when there's a point of failure then it's the responsibility of the team captain to to stand up and say here's how we're going to correct that problem in terms of um correcting uh in finding a correction to a situation I mean I tried to in one case when I was running a small nonprofit in South Deerfield there was a situation where an employee was causing an issue and that's exactly what I did I took them aside basically tried to explain the issue tried to hear out the employees side of things and then ask them what can we do to correct this what can we do to resolve this um Because unless the employee agrees with the means of Correction of the problem then it's going to increase problems later on down the line um so I guess that would be my strategy um unless the situation got worse bordered on the criminal bordered on the you know something which would put the town at risk or put another employee at risk then more stricter methods might have to be employed can you give us specific examples on how you have participated in contract negotiations and manage contracts to ensure compliance by both town and its employees um when I was uh after the Town Administrator and Deerfield uh left and moved to a different position um I was interim Town Administrator for a term and I represented the town in the collective bargain agreement negotiations with the the only Union there non non School Union that is uh which is the the the police department um in that case we successfully negotiated a contract that I think was satisfactory to the uh both the Union as well as the town um it may not have been everything for every party but it was a pretty good compromise and I think it was a example of it was the result of a lot of back and forth um I will say that it was my first experience in negotiating uh such an agreement uh I learned a great deal about what you can and what you can't do um I would proceed into similar negotiations um very cautiously um to make sure that the needs of the Union of the CB the colle priming unit CBU were heard but I would not agree to or make any promises uh or offer anything until I was absolutely certain that the town could actually support that offer um so again proceeding slowly checking with the parties that be and making sure that what was being agreed to was acceptable to okay this is a long one okay hafi uses a team approach to our annual budget process we start by communicating with all of our department heads and then spend months working on a budget with our financial team that includes our finance committee Treasurer accountant the Town Administrator serves as the quarterback so to speak we would be very open to streamlining the process to the extent that it is possible all while making sure Town residents have a chance to witness how the budget is built so they are knowledgeable and prepared as possible to make decisions at town meeting now please describe your experience and working on Municipal budget including specifics about the computer programs you used and then can you please tell us about a budget practice that you have used that you have found particularly successful or efficient so the first budget process I was involved with on a Grassroots level was in Deerfield in 2014 I think I helped the uh I helped to develop the budget um and to Foster it all the way through town meeting for two years while I was working there um of course I was just working on departmental budgets in Edgar toown but for the past three years uh coming into this now third year um I've worked with the town of West on developing its budget for scale it's a $7 million budget with about 3 and half to 4 million of it going to the schools uh that's that's our fy2 budget um but the process is the same starting with the finance committee and department head submitting budgets to them uh salaries and and cost of living adjustments as necessary being reviewed by the select board each department head appearing before the finance committee to represent their interests uh and the finance committee at the end having to vote uh whether to Grant the um request as presented or to make adjustments as needed um I developed a workbook in Excel in 2014 that's been refined over time um it's still a work in progress as any good project is but the budget for fy2 can be seen online through the town's website now as one big large workbook it's a Google worksheet so it's publicly available the uh it's a dynamic live workbook so as budgets are submitted the numbers Cascade all the way through and we can see where those numbers fall in the greater scheme of things it also includes a five-year look back so we can look at Trends not only for any given line item in any given departmental budget but also for that Department's budget over the course of you know the previous three or four years compared to their current request um it also allows us to apply uniformly a cost of living adjustment to all employees uh and to make adjustments to that and to instantly see what that means and it even includes the um trying to think of the name it's it's basically the reconciliation sheet that our accountant uses so that if we make a change in the highway Department's salary line item it Cascades all the way through and we can see its impact on the tax rate the proposed potential tax rate um it's it's it's Dynamic it's open to everybody to see um the finance committee uses it as they're doing planning we use it at town meeting to present the budget um and it makes and it's organized according to the umus accounting system which is what our accountant uses so taking that information from that budget format it's a onetoone translation for our accountant they instantly are able to enter it into their system with very little error um and it's worked fairly well it's worked fairly well great the Town Administrator serves as a procurement officer for Hatfield this involves a solid understanding of the state's procurement laws and a strict adherence to all of those requirements can you describe your experience with this process including preparing bid specifications tracking bids and then awarding contracts sure um again when I was working in Deerfield I went through the mcpo program and did basic supplies and services as well as construction training um I think at that time I got my certification but after leaving that position and and going to the vineyard uh it's lapsed since then so I've already taken uh the uh supplies and services again um I'm looking forward to taking the uh constructing uh uh construction uh courses this fall so I can reup my certification uh as a a certified public purchasing official um in Deerfield I I did a couple of very small procurements basically for some uh they call it horizontal construction uh basically the construction of a fence along the edge of a cemetery um since I've been in West Hampton we've done a couple of different procurements the most recent one is for a solar array on our town hall that's actually ongoing um so that's uh an RFP versus just a straight bid which means that when we get the proposal uh we'll have our sealed price proposal as well as the open um project proposal a committee has been formed to review the project proposal independent of the price proposal um and that's how that decision will be made um it's been working pretty well um at this point um the in Westampton the only other thing I've done so far is uh disposition of equipment where we had to um dispose of a couple of used vehicles as well as some larger equipment from the highway department and we actually just went out through these easiest method through municibid um pretty good we got about $36,000 in total from those sales so that worked out pretty well so great anyway grants are an invaluable Financial resource for the town of Hatfield allowing us to do projects and offer programs that would be unaffordable otherwise please tell us and be specific as possible of the grants you have applied for been awarded and then executed including reporting to the grant agency and more specifically do you have direct experience with larger and more demanding Grant programs like Mass Works Mass works I haven't uh done an application with yet um my grant writing has been largely in West Hampton um but I've worked through the um both the community compact program as well as the onetop for growth Grant programs at the state those are recent revisions and consolidation of the Grant application processes and it's great it's much better than it has been in the past um this year I was able to secure about $75,000 for a um for basically a street and Bridge inventory in West Hampton something that they sorely need um to understand the condition of Roads culverts and bridges and to prioritize them on a repair schedule um I was able to secure $65,000 in funding for um an examination of our police operations and whether or not regionalization on some level in some way could help the town uh we uh there were a couple of smaller grants through our various inary insurance through the insurance company that I was able to secure but I'm in the process of writing an expression of interest for the MVP program that knockwood if it's successful will bring about $960,000 into town for uh assessment of a particularly environmentally sensitive uh Road a section of a road about a quarter mile and where the construction would ultimately be several open bottom culverts uh reconstruction of an embankment along a Wetlands a wooded wetlands and uh storm water management that um prevents from storm water from the roads from flowing in into the into the Wetland um hope hopefully that will be something that'll work out yeah towns often have projects that take years to complete and Hatfields no different additionally we have several large projects that we hope to at least explore in the next 5 to 10 years such as a public safety building Council of Aging space what is your direct experience with managing large projects from idea to completion from idea to completion uh you're right uh projects like that take a great deal of time um I came to Westampton with the public safety complex project about 30% uh in progress uh and by that I mean that they had already approved a uh a Town's representative uh they had already uh approved a general contractor bids had gone out for General and sub bids and had been approved and the first thing that happened was the person who was hired to build the main structure said I can't do it I'm sorry I'm out this of course was in April of 2020 when everything went to went to heck in a hand basket um so the town was already behind the eight ball they had to secure an additional $100,000 in funding to be able to go to their second bidder and and secure of the project the weakness in that project and this is what I would look for uh in is is a uh owner's project manager that had no direct connection to to or close connection to anyone involved but but could help the town interpret all the plans and all the proposals being submitted to them that was a weakness on the U part of the West Hampton project um the OPM did not do as much work as they could have uh there were designs that came from an architect where they didn't they literally didn't design the stairwell correct they literally they had stairs that had a rise of 14 in and a run of eight uh that doesn't even meet code in a in a in a residence never mind in a commercial building um it was only one in a pretty extensive series of design flaws that weren't discovered until well on in the project um but at the same time there was also problems with a general contractor where there was an extensive delay that resulted in negotiations at the end trying to resolve what the contractors said we owed them what the town said they owed us and we were finally able to resolve it through a binding agreement that resulted in no uh no mediation or anything else we were able to resolve it and stay within the budget so but in like I said the most important thing is the OPM someone who really knows construction and who knows how to communicate complex engineering and constructive construction terms to the representatives of the Town who may not have that experience um and to be able to watch out for pitfalls early on just two more questions um Hatfield has just completed a very in-depth comprehensive plan that will guide us into the next 20 years with a special emphasis on housing please describe any work you have done on housing projects in other communities it's a challenging to work on housing because broadly speaking towns and cities don't build houses um houses are built by private entities or or nonprofit corporations um we can invite opportunity we can make it easy for uh folks to build homes we can make it easy for new house developments to be built we can pave the way for for large affordable housing developments and that sort of thing but generally speaking towns don't build homes um what uh what I've tried to do and this actually my experience in the planning board in Edgartown probably speak to speaks to this the most uh we did a pretty extensive revision of our zoning bylaw and what we tried to do is to clarify and to solidify the rights of of land owners to build an accessory dwelling unit as they call it now in Edgartown they call it a guest house because that's how they're used um we wanted to make sure that there was as little a judication on the part of a planning board or zoning board but more simply if you have the space and you have the Wastewater capacity you get to build the thing um trying to open as many doors as possible in in a reasonable way uh further it was uh my work there where sometimes planning board members would object to a proposal to expand a home or to rebuild a home and I felt that part of my duty was to bring them in and say look here's what our bylaw says here's the things that you can use as criteria and anything beyond that is makes a denial subject to appeal and we so we have to reinforce what's in the bylaw um for the most part that worked and it did change the climate of the planning board over time to help them uh do that work in Westampton um I'm very happy that uh we just adopted an Adu bylaw uh last spring which allows adus by right or I'm Sorry by special permit um with a change at the state level I've Pro uh provided some revisions to that to allow them by right in certain cases um I'm still coordinating with a number of different people in a number of different towns to understand what that state law does allow because there's some question as to whether or not a town can restrict adus on non-conforming Lots I've heard two different sides um but an accessory dwelling unit is one way to provide an affordable housing opportunity to provide someone who's raised a big family to move into a smaller structure on their own property and stay in their home essentially um it's something that can be explored and that is something that the town has direct control over great last question what aspects of this job most inspire you and how will you measure your success as a Town Administrator um good question uh this position feels like the right fit and by that I mean the right size town the right scale um I'm not a hugely ambitious person so I don't have dreams of you know going to be a major planer or a lead in a lead position or town manager of a large city or something along those lines um it's not in my nature to want that I live here uh my wife and I are very happy in the home we're in believe it or not if you've seen the house you know it needs work but we're very happy there it's a great piece of land we we think that this is it for us um we've owned four or five houses and moved around we think this is it for us um it's close enough to my the place where I was raised but far enough away so that it's it's feels unique um I was delighted to find that I have very deep family Roots uh my great great great great great great great grand father Benjamin weight really picture is hanging the Benjamin the Benjamin we yeah that was my it was my grandmother's Mother's direct ancestor yeah um found that out wow that's startling but anyway there it is um so that felt like okay I can claim at least some kind of Prov Providence if you will um if I get this job I think this would be the last job I have um I have no intention of going anywh anywhere else um it'll be tricky because as a resident it's very easy to find yourself following one side or the other of Any Given issue I can't do that if I'm sitting in that office I have to remain impartial because I have to be able to bring all opinions from residents from from you know Town department heads employees to your table and provide you with both sides of Any Given argument it's not my job to make those judgments it'll be your job to make you know make the bigger decisions um within certain reason of course that's going to be the most challenging thing but it's also going to be the most rewarding thing to be helping the town grow and helping the town to continue and I have a vested interest now in making sure that happens great thank you we're going to now have our um next interview with our next candidate Michael Linsky um I'm sorry Andrew I'm sorry Andrew I have the wrong I'm sorry sorry um Andrew LaVine um and uh so Andrew we have a bunch of questions um we're going to try to go through um you know as quickly as we can you know understanding you want to give complete answers um so I'm going to begin so first of all um congratulations on being a finalist um for the Town Administrator position here in Hatfield can you give us a brief introduction of yourself and include what you think is the most relevant experience that has prepared you for this position and what drives you to Hatfield excellent well thank you chair and thank you B for the opportunity to be here today uh and don't worry so my best friends call me Michael Linsky so no problem at all uh it's great to see you all here so uh it's an odd thing for them to call me but there you go so I'll be I'll be brief I'll try to give the condensed version uh I'm sorry to to David who's heard me say this before and and Ed who's heard me say this before so I'll try to go quickly through the introduction but I'm a public service professional I I care about uh having a career in which I'm trying to make lives better for for people in the community so which I'm working uh I grew up with a real interest in in government and in politics grew up in in Framingham and then way and Massachusetts uh so I am a Bas State native I um went to Georgetown where I developed you know even deeper interest in in government politics but also started to get interested in policy and that interest in policy uh turned into an interest in education policy I worked in education for the first three years of my career uh first in an americore program in in Boston at a uh High need Middle School uh where I work really closely with a lot of students there and had a great experience that eventually led me to Lawrence High School where I was running a tutoring program in the school day actually through a charter school program but in the district school so really interesting experience there but when you work at a place like Lawrence High School uh you're working with their students who are just amazing people and you think a lot about the potential of those students and how that potential isn't necessarily being realized in part by the communities in which they're living and and how uh federal state local policy all of that comes together not necessarily give them the shot outside the classroom and that more than anything else led me to want to go to the Harvard Kennedy School uh where I earned a a master's degree in public policy when I went there I was thinking maybe I'd want to study Economic Policy uh immigration some of these other issues that really affected my students in Lawrence and more than anything else what I realized was that I wanted to be the kind of person who could take really good ideas that were out there and make them happen so that led to me taking courses in things like operations management uh digital government uh state and local government Innovations state and local Finance uh and try to learn you know how to be one of those people who could Implement on good ideas and I was led from from that program to four years at Mass development at the state's development and Finance Agency uh which was a great experience getting to work in municipalities like Lawrence through their program called TDI the transformative development initiative and it's nominally a program in economic development but it was really about Community Development about planning about all the things that help build healthy thriving Community something that's been a theme of my my career um and I I had a um operations officer role there I was supporting people in the field I was essentially doing a lot of the the procurement work managing Consulting projects uh and and doing a a lot of work to to further the the efforts of of the the team that was working in the field in these different communities like Lawrence uh chapi uh hail uh Springfield uh even a little bit in Greenfield so so great great team that I was working with there so after four years working with State resources on City issues I realized I wanted to learn a lot more and get back at a at the city or town level itself I hadn't actually worked in a municipality and I was coming in from the state trying to help people do things but didn't know enough about how municipalities worked so I uh then transitioned to a role in B Raa Massachusetts where I was a director of administrative services in the town of B Raa uh got to work for a great management team there really learn a lot about how to put together a warrant how to uh apply for Grants uh I'd been on the other side of of Grant administering them at Mass development so being on the application side that's a good experience for me and was able to make some some good progress there uh learned about how to put together a budget and then uh I was there for a brief amount of time for a variety of reasons the biggest one being that I was recruited to my current role where I now work uh in the city of Newburyport I'm the chief of staff the position used to be known as the chief administrative officer so it's still kind of a little bit of that so it's great experience for RO like this um and in that position I'm really working on basically everything so I I help the mayor what I say most of all is that I'm helping him frame decisions that he's making uh so helping him you know arrive at the right decisions to make but I am responsible for all the collective bargaining agreements uh for our budget process uh for Grants applications and and management at times uh and really uh I'm the the first person that department heads and other staff go to uh when trying to work out any any issues so I'm I'm working very Clos with the HR department on any personnel management as well so that's a fantastic uh opportunity that I've had I'd really like now like to take the opportunity to to do two things and one is to take that higher leadership role as as a Town Administrator um and you know to be the person responsible uh for for all those tasks uh I think feel like it's the next stage of my career and I feel like I have a lot to give back especially in a special Community one like Hatfield um I think you'll see from a resume that I have you know moved around in in in some some ways but that's really because in part I've been trying to find you know the right home uh both for my professional and personal life and uh my wife and I are uh currently living in in L Massachusetts but we're looking to make a move and she has ties to Western Mass and we're really looking at as a place that we can raise our family we have a nineb 10-month old daughter at home and uh I'll show pictures afterwards unless it has to be in a public record I'm happy to show pictures we to share them with the community um pretty cute um and we're looking for the right place to to start that that that home and living out here in the pin valley it feels like the right place so I'll start there excellent as you know we are a small community can you tell us how you will become part of the community or as a member of this committee already how will you reach out to the community in this new role no it's a fantastic question and really it's by showing up so I I I did this in Bill R I did this in uh in newb port and i' I've done it in the communities that I worked with that mass development just look for those opportunities to show up and whether that's you know staying after hours to go to High School play or or a soccer game or or something else wherever you're going to to see people it's important to be there um I also think it's really important just to be the one who can pick up the phone if if uh if people are going to call you after hours which they will you know want to show that you're there that you're a part of it that the day doesn't stop at at 4:30 p.m. you really do need to be a part of it so I'd want to want to show up I also it's important to me in any position I've had to to meet people where they're at you know a lot of people aren't going to come to town hall during office hours whether it's because you know of their job or their family or something else you need to look for OPP other opportunities to reach people and the amount of community engagement that a municipality has to do these days just means you look for opportunities to meet people where they're at and I think I've have a a record of doing that whether it was small business owners in in Fall River or or clam diggers in in Newburyport you know you try to meet people where they're at along the same lines of communication we televis the meetings of many of our boards and Comm commes and we use our website and social media to seminate news but still there are communication gaps sometimes please describe how you think a small town can best communicate with its residents sure no you do great work on your website and uh social media I I think um that's a great place to start and definitely the people who want to follow you there we'll we'll we'll read what you have um I started a next door page too in in Newport that was somewhat successful F it's also good just to keep an eye on what people are are saying in the community the absolute best way that we've had to reach people um that we did in in nuber report and I would do anywhere if resources are available and there's interest from folks in doing so is to send letters in um in uh water bills or or property tax bills um everybody gets them most people read them uh and most people will read an insert that's included in there so if there's something important that's coming out or just maybe an annual hey here's your budget this year here's what it looks like kind of establish for people this idea that that uh you want to provide that extra information for them that's the absolute best way we've had of reaching people and then you start looking at um what are your specific groups that maybe you can reach out to obviously the COA is a fantastic uh way to to reach LLY population uh you've got Recreation schools for reaching families and younger people um we've found that there's always opportunities to improve our Communications collaboration with schools so having a a full District here in hfield is a good opportunity and then you just try to get creative for anything else uh whether it's uh DPW has road signs that can put up for something important remind people about elections special Town meetings that's great um skywriting is usually not a great option but uh you know if we can get there great great so communication is valued very highly by this board can you please describe your communication Style with reference to the board as well as department heads also how will you encourage ongoing and effective communication from all department heads and how would you deal with a department head that fails to provide you with requested information what might you do to help resolve this issue yeah there's about 12 questions in there sorry I will pick the ones I want to answer go I'll try to so uh I was going to start with regularity uh I think that's the key to it um establishing a schedule is really helpful um whether that's week bi-weekly check-ins with the select board chair um and then you know with with staff who you need to be speaking with really regularly make sure you have time set up in the weekly calendar I think there's been some push back in recent years about having that that regular time in a calendar because sometimes you you just end up filling that space to meet the meeting but I think it's more important to to set it aside because otherwise things do fall by the wayside so you got to set that regular communication pattern um and then keep reevaluating and see if that's the right pattern but but usually it is um so set that up for definitely with the the select board through the chair work with the chair to figure out what what the pattern of communication is with other uh members I think um you know there there's a good flow and Hatfield about separating different issues for for different members so make sure you're checking in on different projects and committees with with them um and do that with regularity if someone's having trouble with the schedule so um if the regular meetings aren't working or um if say you know they're not great at answering emails or or they don't have the time to answer phone calls you know it comes back to this idea of meet people where they're at so maybe it's I'm I'm not aware of what their schedule looks like I you know something I've thought about is early on I think it' be great to to Shadow every department head and Shadow every Department uh and get a sense of what their their day looks like and what sorts of things they're working on so if I can have a better understanding of when works for them to check in or get a sense of you know why it's a challenge to to communicate in the way that I've recommended and we try to find a solution to that um so try to meet folks where they're at and but also show that communication is a part of management it's a part of being able to run the town well so if if that's a challenge to to communicate and to work in the style that we're talking about try to figure out what the solution to that is can you be please describe how you would expect to develop a working relationship with the board what does that interaction look like to you and how will you seek input from us all us on all matters large and small ongoing and unexpected yeah absolutely so obviously it starts with with listening um you know this town better than I do I've I've read a lot of reports and watched a lot of meetings but that's maybe an anounce of the the amount of of of knowledge you have about this town um and I'd want to start with understanding um what you think makes a successful Town what you think makes a successful Administration what you think makes a successful administrator um and work with you to to become that that version of the of the Town Administration administrator that you'd want to see um so after listening and establishing that regular communication I think it's really looking at what my responsibilities are um and being being clear together about what what you expect from me and what I expect to be able to to deliver um so I think having those clear expectations and you know goals together is important uh um you know I serve as a as the administrative uh uh the chief administrative uh officer right now and it's all about being able to stay on top of of deadlines understand you know what needs to be done on a certain calendar and balancing you know what's urgent and what's important and being able to schedule those things that are Urgent and important and take care of that for for the board for for the decision maker and look for those things that are not urgent but important and make sure that we're scheduling them and doing them when when it makes sense so all those things I think can help create a a successful uh successful interaction environment town meeting can be confusing for residents despite our ongoing efforts to communicate the reasons for all the Articles how can a board best prepare residents for the discussions and decisions necessary at a town meeting yeah it's a great question um I've seen a lot of good work being done recently in in preparation beforehand um whether it's a a zoom meeting that's optional for residents or something that's put out on Happ heeld Community television um that maybe just goes over some of the the articles that that could be a surprise to folks um I've seen you know YouTube and video series done with with different board members kind of talking through some of the the orders and so that people can can watch them it's a good idea maybe 15 people will watch it I I hope I hope more but in you know if some people watch it they can tell their friends about it which is great I think um putting the information out there is really good and then being strategic about thinking you know who are who are some thought leaders in the community who who might be good at getting more information out there to folks um so if you're you're making it available but you're also trying to work with the the groups and stakeholders who who will communicate it to other people I think that can be really good um I I definitely think uh making use of of uh video and and technology is is helpful here um obviously everyone gets gets a warrant um it's just a question of heading off in advance what questions you think people are going to have and you're always going to be surprised by something who who knew it would be snowing ice this year but but there there always be be something you can't quite can't quite expect but but at least you can try to get ahead of some of those questions thank you oh it's me next um Our Town Administrator works as our human resource officer interacting with all Town employees and overseeing the contract negotiation process with both both our Union and our department heads right can you describe your style of dealing with Personnel issues that may arise and give us an example of how you've been successful or creative in solving a sensitive or complicated personel situation oo creativity interesting um sure so um I I'll say so anytime that I've worked on Personnel issues I've been lucky to have a great team to work with I'm I I'm ready to to take on these issues on on my own but but uh I would still look to see who's on my team and who can I work with whether it's a supervisor uh for a Personnel issue whether it's the board as we negotiate a contract um and certainly with the help of Town Council um really important to understand what the legal issues are first anytime you're going to approach an issue like this um so that's usually where I start is trying to understand uh what the problem is so I'll meet with all the involved parties meet with the supervisor meet with uh when it's appropriate the the employee themselves if when there's some kind of issue make sure I'm hearing their side uh if there a represented employee make sure I'm speaking with the Union uh and giving them the opportunity to have Union presence uh in any kind of meeting um usually try to to do all my research first and understand what's going on find out what what laws or or other uh Town policies uh relate to it first uh so I can really understand what what the options are so as far as creativity goes I had a difficult situation with uh two departments that were sharing an admin um in in the last year um and there were a lot of issues that were coming from that issue of management um and the structure just wasn't working each each uh of the Departments had their own had one had had two and a half people and one had one and a half people and that structure just wasn't working and we were able to redefine job descriptions so so that each one did have their own full admin didn't have to share anybody and and it wasn't didn't end up being a solution that cost us more money which is is great I don't like solving uh Personnel issues by by throwing money at them I I don't think that's appropriate um but it was an issue in in workflows in job descriptions so I think being creative there being able to look at what those job descriptions really look like uh so that someone wasn't being torn into two uh different different workflows in a way that really interrupted what they were trying to do made a lot of sense so that was a good creative solution that I think has worked well can you give us specific examples on how you have participated in contract negotiations and managed contracts to ensure compliance by both the town and the employees sure um so I I am uh one of the members of a three-person contract negotiating team uh in the city of Newburyport I I work with our finance director and our uh HR Director to negotiate all of those contracts we had four open contracts of of as of a month ago and I think uh very close to getting all of those completed right now which is which is great we really had too many that were open at the same time but we're we're doing well there um I'm sorry that the question was about um staying on top of contracts and making sure they're successfully managed how you manage to ensure the compliance by both the town and employees great perfect so yeah um so once that that contract is actually done and this is so important while you're negotiating it to really understand the details and the meanings of every single phrase we're dealing with right now in the contract that we're closing out about um some of our employees who have to be working on on holidays um if if they're going to receiving extra compensation for that which which they are defining what those holidays are and when they start um is Christmas Eve a holiday that lasts all day or does it start at 3 pm all those things are are really important to make sure that you're defining them specifically and working those things out in the contract process and then and if it does end up being open uh as an issue you know when you're managing that contract you know hopefully you've built good relationships with the with the Union staff and good relationships with the employees so that you can actually discuss this in good faith um and that uh that's something that we've been able to do is we have good relationships with the business agents for for our um for our unions and um you know if if there is a dispute about what something means you know we've been able to work through them looking at precedent looking at um you know legal implications anything else and come to a solution that works so a specific example there's that holiday one there's um one we're working through right now around uh the presence of having security cameras in some of our buildings and what that means about um language that might be in our contracts about surveillance about what's allowed what's not uh so we've been able to to bargain in some of that uh in a way that I think has has worked for everybody and and has been in line with labor law and and and uh has made employees and and management feel more secure okay we got a long one all right let's do it Hatfield uses a team approach to our annual budget process we start by communicating with all of our department heads and then spend months working on a budget with our financial team that includes our finance committee our Treasurer our accountant Etc the Town Administrator serves as the quarterback so to speak sure we would be happy to we we would be very open to streamlining the process to the extent that it is possible all while making sure Town residents have a chance to witness how the budget is built so they are knowledgeable and prepared as possible to make decisions at town meeting so please describe your exper experience in working on a m Municipal budget including specifics about computer programs you use sure and then would you please tell us about a budget practice that you have used that you found particularly successful or efficient excellent okay so I think this is a great goal I think it's fantastic to to be able to show folks how the budget is built and and and that there's you know collaboration each step of the way I'm sure that can feel like an unwieldy process at times but it's absolutely worth it to be able to have the buy in for for how this comes together I'm working in a in a city government right now so it is more streamlined but I think we lose a little bit of that um collaboration along the way so most of our budget is built using uh pre-existing Excel templates that we have uh and pre-existing uh word word templates we have I will say um something I'd love to work on and I know it's a lot of work but it could really be worth it is to uh create a full budget book uh that has um that that that has uh departments and boards and everything else broken down uh by it it basically functions as an annual report and a budget book at the same time so you do have uh more details about FTE in each department more details about uh change over over last year all all and fiveyear Trends um goals for the Department you know something like that we we do put that together in in newort through the uh um the uh um specifications of the the government financial uh Officers Association and and it's it's a good budget book I think that helps build a lot of uh trust in what we we put together um so I would recommend trying to head in a direction like that it's a lot of work but it could be could be worth it if the if everyone agrees that that we try to get there um I would say um on our side uh some things that I've seen that that work well is we do have pretty intense uh budget hearings with our city council now that takes place after the budget's already put together so it's kind of a trade-off um we do have something that that I like is a uh a check-in meeting long before the budget process starts we have it in November of each year that's by by Charter uh and that's a a joint meeting with schools and the and the uh City where we talk about what we're expecting to see for budgets so it's an opportunity to talk about things that we could be fixing in the future so so uh having that early meeting is probably helpful um opportunities to stream line is a really good question and I'm I'm not ready yet to say what what things I might want to jump in there with because I'd really need to understand what's working uh for folks and what's not I it it feels like um you know in watching your your town meeting and some of your your finance committee meetings you've got a a really good engaged finance committee who understands you know how the budget process works I I love that you have the the capital planning committee I think that's something that I wish we had in in uh in some ways in Newport just to have more um Community uh involvement in the the capital planning too um yeah I I I I don't have a great answer about streamlining at the moment but I would have the goal of trying to put together the the full full budget book um and maybe in in because because there's so much work that has to come centralized from that there'd be maybe an extra step of say Town staff doing you know a first set of work on it and then bringing it back to finance committee um which you know still an opportunity for collaboration before but there's a little bit that's centralized before you take it back to the community so that's that's my first stab at it great so the Town Administrator serves as a procurement officer for Hatfield this involves a solid understanding of the state's procurement laws and a strict adherence to all of those requirements can you describe your experience with this process including um preparing bid specifications tracking bids and awarding contracts so I've been working uh with with uh procurement in different forms you know since I started working in in state government uh I did a decent amount of of procurement work on different Consulting contracts and other things uh when I worked at Mass development we were exempt from the states 30 law but uh I learned good practices there and and uh good organization skills in in tracking bids and following the right practices and everything else uh since working in town government I've I've been more uh exposed to uh to this field and um have worked on a number of procurements um and I have gone through uh recently in the last year the state's um mcppo certification process and I'm proud to announce that as of this month I am now a certified public purchasing official so I do have that uh credential taken care of uh which is great um I've worked on um on a couple uh construction uh and design related uh procurements um and I've also worked on you know some smaller um just Consulting uh procurements as well but um I'm comfortable with with all of the the elements of of uh the procurement law uh I am certified now and uh would would be comfortable taking that role um leaning on some some of the the state's advice that's out there since there really is a lot of great guidance in that field for especially new purchasing officials grants are an invaluable Financial resource for the town of Hatfield allowing us to do projects and offer programs that we would be unaffordable otherwise please tell us and be specific as possible of grants that you have have applied for been awarded and then executed including reporting to the agency and more specifically do you have direct experience with larger and more demanding Grant programs like Mass works great so I'm hoping I'll have more experience in in Mass Works soon I did just uh complete a pretty large mass Works application uh for for Newberry Port uh we're waiting to find out if if we'll uh receive that but it's a good strong application um for potential private development down downtown and for our infrastructure piece of that so uh I think it's a good application we have support from the the private property owner uh it fits really well with the state's housing goals so hoping to see that that goes through uh so in B Raa um I brought in $300,000 worth of Grants uh about $240,000 through the green communities program I also was responsible for completing our uh our first green communities report got some great assistance from our regional Planning Association on that but there still was a lot of wrangling from from my office and from from me to have to complete that so so used to to Grant reporting for sure um state does a state is State grads I I like a lot that they're usually pretty well structured and um I've been on the other side of them too as I mentioned I I used to run uh Grant programs for the for a mass development including on um small business Improvement programs and on um on uh some Municipal Innovation programs so I'm used to being on both sides of the table for Grants uh also in B Raa um I help us receive I I wrote the application for a state grant for um for municipal cyber security as well uh in Newber Port um right now we're working through a pretty big uh Federal earmark that we've received um and the fun thing about Federal ear marks is now usually they end up becoming Grant applications on their own as well so this is a program through the EPA that we're doing uh for Reservoir protection we have a large uh infrastructure project that we'll need to do uh for one of our largest Reser divorce um and I'm coordinating the uh the Grant application that will be sent to the EPA for that helping us been the decision maker and and on figuring out how we should be spending those funds um uh we had initial application that went in uh but that the language was pretty vague in the federal E mark so making sure that we're prioritizing the right projects for that uh and then I've spent a lot of time uh today in in finalizing some some Grant reports um with the Department of Homeland Security for a um safe boat for our Harbor Master's office so definitely a lot of work in and applying for and tracking grants we have a great uh Grant uh manager in in newb Port that been lucky to work with we we didn't have a grants writer in uh in b r so I did a decent amount of that there um here we have some help on some of the uh Federal application sides but I'm still doing a lot on the reporting and financial management and other things like that great thank you towns have often have projects that take years to complete and Hatfields no different sure additionally we have several large projects that we hope to at least explore in the next 5 to 10 years such as a public safety building or Council on Aging space what is your direct experience with managing large projects from idea to completion great so uh we're not at completion right yet but I'm uh we're working really closely we'll be at 100% design shortly on a uh Community Services Recreation Center uh in in Newburyport and this has been in the works for many years so I missed the idea stage but um getting us to to this point of choosing the location um advancing the the design work and um getting us you know support from the community from the city council and also doing some some significant fundraising uh I've been been involved in all of that so um my role on that project is is mostly on the um coordination with with the city council side and with as a member of the building committee uh reviewing um applications for for designers uh reviewing early design um I am not the project manager on that project but but I'm comfortable working with the design team and and uh building team on that um I was on the uh building team for for two projects in Bill REO while while I was there they had a lot of capital projects going on so I sat in on on a lot of uh a lot of meetings um and followed up on a lot of issues that were going on with with those projects one was to um redo an old school really fantastic adaptive reuse on an old school right across from town hall into a u Media Center great project uh and then uh building of a of a fire station as well and I've I've been through um building of a fire station as well in Newport so um spent a lot of time with with capital projects uh I have not had to serve as the point person for either of them but I have been around enough project managers and now with the um uh procurement uh uh certification and everything else I'd feel comfortable working with that team or serving as the manager of that team great just two more questions oh wow getting there um Hatfield slower now great Hatfield has just completed a very in-depth comprehensive plan that will guide us into the next 20 years with a special emphasis on housing great please describe any work you have done on housing projects in other communities sure so that's a fantastic plan that you have so any uh any Town Administrator and certainly the board are going to be very lucky to get to work with that plan looks like it was an excellent Community process to put that together um I've it's been a great resource for me and getting to learn more about the challenges facing happfield getting to to read through that and certainly the the housing issues are are really interesting especially as they they mix with the the first goal of of making room for the river uh so thinking about these stainability issues uh while you also think about opportunities for economic and and community and Housing Development they go hand inand uh and they're going to be a real challenge for the future but but not one that that's insurmountable um fortunately have a lot of experience from Newport with sustainability issues uh we have to worry about what we're going to do with with coastal flooding um uh as well as River flooding uh between the marac and and uh the ocean um especially on Plum Island uh so I've I've dealt a lot with these resiliency issues and and helped us think through you know what our choices are going to look like on on resoning or anything else so I've been involved in the um in the uh zoning Advisory Group uh working uh with with with that and help with our planning department to help set that up to help frame these issues it was a way to bring together uh our our planning department City councilors uh affordable housing staff uh planning board and others to think about how we're going to adapt to all the the different kinds of uh challenges that are facing as the future and immediately how we're going to implement the state's um uh NBTA communities law so we have a proposal that's in under State review right now uh we've just introduced it back to our city council so that we're ready to hit go on that but we had a really good process there I'm I'm very lucky I can't take credit for this I could try but I can't take credit for this that we had an existing 40R District smart growth District when I came in I'd recommend that to those communities it's it's been extremely helpful for us and and it's been a good way to to lead the way towards our um NBTA community's fulfillment so that got us about half the way there we've expanded that District slightly into parts of our industrial park in ways that we think are still going to be able to allow for know strong commercial growth but also for for some thriving communities right near MBTA station so that's been a good solution um and and something that I've I've been happy to work with uh the affordable homes act just passed by the state means that we're adapting our um Adu law right now we we had an in-law apartment regulation so we've kind of tossed that and started again with uh with Adu language instead I'm very bullish on adus I think when when uh when when managed properly they can be a great solution for adding room for more families and as someone who's trying to figure out where uh my mother-in-law will live someday I definitely care about having adus that work in communities um so I I would say those are my my first thought oh the other thing I've worked on is is negotiations with private developers so we have a number of privately owned ites in Newber port and we have limited control over those especially right now while we're not in compliance with uh U our 40b regulations uh we're at 9.45% of Ral housing so uh we're we're close but but we're we're out of it right now so we have the opportunity to try to get up there maybe with one strong 40b friendly 40b project so I've been involved in the uh negotiations there also run point on negotiations with a very large developer uh in a very sensitive area of of uh our city right next to downtown right on the river uh that's been a vacant Boatyard for for years and uh I think the time is is right for development there but we also have new sustainability and resiliency issues to worry about in that site too so it's been a really good negotiation the last couple years it's been a good reset with the new mayor on that site and I've been happy to run point on that um I think we're close it really started by by building the right teams we're able to bring in a special councel on that and and bring in a planner who I know and trust who's been able to help help us with it so we've got the right team together we've got uh some good consensus from the community and we'll see it's it's only been since 2008 that they've been trying to develop it and maybe we're close so there you go great last last question great um what aspects of this job most inspire you and how will you measure your success as a Town Administrator so um what inspires me most is i' I've watched a lot of your board meetings and really I'm not trying to to flatter there there really is a sense of collaboration here there really is a sense of we're here working together to try to make this town a better place for for residents and to help set up this town for the future and I think there's a sense of that in other towns where I've worked but there's also been a sense of distrust and a sense of of competition and maybe politics and trying to fight things out in the next election rather than trying to actually work together with the town you've got and I'm sure all of that is here too I'm sure it happens it happens in every town but just from watching the way that this board reacts with with respect to people who come in because they have genuine issues they care about um that's the way you want it to work this is this is you know New England Town management uh town meeting style of government the way you want it to to act we've got real issues here in Hatfield that that people care about that are going to affect the future of this town and I want to be the kind of leader who can help frame those issues for for the board frame those issues for residents and help us make the right decisions for for now and for the future so I'm inspired by the sense of collaboration here and and the willingness to to dive into some of these challenges together and by the opportunity to be a person who can help help us reach that um was there a second part of the question I didn't answer yeah how how would you measure your success great so um I suppose you're supposed to save as long as you can count to two people who are happy with you with any any time you're successful but I'd like to go for three and I'd really like to go for 3,000 plus with the the residents of Hatfield as well so obviously no one's going to be happy with you all the time but if people can can respect that the the way I approach my my job I can respect the way that I've tried to help Minister the town um and feel like they can understand why I've helped make decisions that that were reached then I'd feel pretty good and successful and then I'd also feel successful if if it feels like we're not just you know managing what's in front of us but also thinking about the future and really setting ourselves up for for a strong future in hfield and honestly for the region at large I think there's there's sometimes it you can think things are great if things are just good within the the the borders of your community but you want to look a little little broader sometimes regionally to see how how things are going so maybe not allowed to say that but I think it's important great very good perfect well it was a pleasure meeting you wonderful meting thanks for coming all the way out here today we appreciate it and um yeah thank you we're continuing Our Town Administrator interviews we now um have another candidate Michael Linsky joining us welcome um thanks for being here as I mentioned we have a bunch of questions so we're going to Dive Right In so congratulations on being a finalist for the Town Administrator position here in Hatfield um can you give us a brief introduction of yourself and include what you think is the most relevant experience that has prepared you for this position and what draws you to Hatfield okay great um yeah thank you for inviting me here I'm honored to be a finalist uh for the town of pville administrative position I was born and raised in Northampton Massachusetts um went to Northampton High School um After High School went to Stonehill which is a lber arts college in Massachusetts and then um worked in Boston a before moving to uh Pennsylvania um uh to start a family and um just basically that's a little bit of my background um so um I I'll I'll jump to what drove me to hfield uh I relocated back to Massachusetts uh in 20 2019 and um it was because of personal issues that were going on but I'm back um I I'm part of a big family here um I'm one of six uh brothers and sisters and um I'm glad to be back in the area I love the Pioneer Valley uh Northampton and um the surrounding areas and hfield U my grandfather was a potato farmer in hfield and so there's some history there with my family uh as far as agriculture is concerned and I know a lot about hfield just from growing up in and around half field I played sports for Hamp high and we played Smith Academy and so I'm very familiar with soccer the Luke Ryan and all the people there so um it was great to see this as an opportunity for me to perhaps join your team to help out um what makes me uh I think qualified for this position um I have an MPA that I got while I lived in uh and worked in Pennsylvania I got from vill Villanova University a master in public administration um great education great experience I pride myself on having that um credential uh really prepared me to at the time I was working um for local government in their engineering department getting a lot of infrastructure project management experience and uh I wanted to advance my career so I uh went nights to Villanova and was able to get my MPA and that um allowed me to pursue Town manager positions um and the the natural progression for my career was to take an assistant position and I was the assistant manager for local government in Pennsylvania uh Montgomery County about 45 minutes Northwest of Philadelphia um it was a a population of about 18,000 full service Community police fire Recreation utility wastewater treatment plant um worked there as a an assistant for 5 years and then I was promoted to a manager and worked as the manager for about a year before resigning when I moved to uh Massachusetts so my background as a manager local government manager and my uh previous experience in Princeton New Jersey you know gives me about 18 years of experience working for local government excellent thank you as you know we are a small community can you tell us how you will become part of the community or as a member of this community already how will you reach out to the community in this new role yeah so as as your administrator um you know I'd be at the building every day and um whether or not I would live in half field is is up in the air um I live in Boston right now but we'll be relocating back to Western Mass this fall um so I haven't decided exactly where where I'm going to live but um being part of this community and living in the community would be desirable um this is a a beautiful uh place um and I would love to to be a part of the community as a resident however if not uh just being in the building every day the way I would uh you know I would just welcome everyone to come in and say hello to get to meet me um and maybe have some formal office hours just for that for that reason uh just for people to come in meet me hear their concerns um I'm sure people have a lot of concerns in half field as we as everywhere else um that I've worked and I just would have a policy of welcoming people to come talk to me um as far as you know getting started that would be the my my first course of business would just be to welcome the community to to meet me um yeah along the same lines of communication we televise the meetings of many of our boards and committees and we use our website and social media to seminate news but still there are communication gaps sometimes please describe how you think a small town can best communicate with its residents so I believe all those things that you mentioned are good ways to communicate um we had a physical paper newsletter in Upper gnda that we uh issued quarterly that went out to people in the mail uh people enjoyed that it it gave a full brochure of our Recreation program for that quarter also what was going on in town each of the department heads uh would write a paragraph or so about what they were doing in town and keeping people informed about the various departments police fire was treatment Public Works and things of that nature uh having a comprehensive newsletter like that uh specifically um to give people an update on what's going on in their actual physical local government um I think is a good idea to maintain if you if you have one that's great um I would I would love to maintain that the the social media aspect is obviously in this day and age a lot of people communicate with their phones and don't uh read paper so um having um a a a vir you know a more robust website perhaps I think would be something I would I would propose to the select board to um look into maybe enhancing the website so that it has some interactive features on it um one thing I had mentioned in my first interview was the ability for the town to map uh its utilities it's you know kind of overlay all the maps you have on paper and put it into a geographical information um system a GIS uh I found that to be very helpful for residents to be able to go and look up their property look where the flood plane lies on their property any restrictions on their property what zone they were in things of that people new to the community or looking to move to the Community uh I think that would be a helpful resource um maintaining those Facebook pages Instagram doing things of that nature I think is great um and then having events where the community can gather and meet people uh as well like the face-to-face interaction I think is has has in my experience been the most rewarding and most satisfying for both parties uh you get to meet people hear their concerns face to face and I think that's primarily that would be my um you know the best way to communicate U but unfortunately people are busy and we have to try you know we have to reach people where they are basically great so communication is valued very highly by this board can you please describe your communication Style with reference to the board um as well as to department heads um also how will you encourage ongoing and effective communication from all department heads couple of questions here how would you deal with a department head that fails to provide you with requested information and what might you do to um resolve that issue okay so the first part of your question um my communication with the board would be such that uh you would know everything that's going on on a day-to-day basis that you wanted me to tell you so and I say that in that I would think the administrator would have some discretion to carry about day-to-day business where if things are normal course of business I wouldn't have to be telling you every little thing that happened but obviously when it it raised to the level um where I felt uncomfortable not telling you or knowing what your comfort level was with my discretion you would know about it um inundating you with emails daily on a daily basis is not something I particularly would want to do but if you want me to do that I would but um my communication Style with a three- member board which I think is great um we had a five- member board which was fine but there's some challenging governments that have nine members on their board so having a three member board I think is very manageable to keep you up to dat um about the issues um that you want me to tell you about that that I think you need to hear about anything that Rose to the level again uh you need to know everything obviously but I just I I couch that with I'm not going to tell you well Jim was late today you know something like that um but uh my communication Style with my former board was that if you if I got a question from one of you uh the answer would go out to everybody I think that's important in that um if some if a resident has an issue and they reach out to a board member they're comfortable reaching out to um and then they reach out to me for direction I would want the rest of you to know what I'm telling everybody I think that that is a priority that I would make that's something that I've done in the past and I I I value that um keeping people up to date phone calls email um constant communication now with department heads people in the building um you know we're all pretty close together I know your police may be in a different location and fire but uh you know I have no problem walking over to another building talking to people on a daily basis getting to know people um especially letting them know anything you need please contact me let me know um if if I'm going to be a point person on certain projects or certain items that need to go through the administrator office I want them to know that they can talk to me at any time um you know given my schedule if we need to meet we can certainly set up meetings at any time to do so um might you know it's a it's a somewhat of a kiche to say an open door policy but that's you know anybody that it's such a small organization that we we see each other all the time and I think um I have the type of Personality where people would feel comfortable bringing their questions and concerns to me and not be intimidated uh to do so I mean I would I would hope that would never be the case uh with me having to deal with um asking someone for information and they were non-responsive um I would follow up and be you know very uh polite and you know what's going on I um just wondering how you're working on getting the information I requested um obviously if it's of a sensitive nature we would want to follow the rules and guidelines of confidentiality uh however um you know if it's day-to-day business stuff and I'm just not getting a response I would want to talk to that person and see what's going on great can you please describe how you expect to develop a working relationship with the board what does that interior action look like to you and how will you seek input from us on all other matters large and small ongoing or unexpected okay so um my relationship with you all would start um on day one meeting you um hopefully having um meetings throughout the first you know 60 90 days regularly checking in with each other to see how things are going the regular meetings of town business obviously I would be attending um whatever boards or committees that each of you are assigned to I would I would hope to see you on a regular basis um communicating face Toof face would be again my primary uh uh wish to communicate with you all in in a small organization however we all have cell phones and email and um things matter of fact type stuff I would keep you up to date via email again not to inundate you with information you're you have other stuff to do and I respect that I respect the fact you're volunteering basically your time here and I think that's uh very admirable and um whether or not you all have other jobs you're working uh I don't know but um I would think that may be the case and uh I would absolutely respect and um not need input all the time on getting stuff done um and that's the first thing I'd want to do as far as getting to know the board is what is your level of discretion with me what are you comfortable with me making decisions on and what are you not what do you want to personally be involved in um and I think that would set a good tone moving forward on us being able to um establish a report that's such that I'm giving you information that you want and that you need and vice versa that you're communicating with me on stuff that I need to know um that perhaps you have had an encounter that I don't know about it in my dealings would that be helpful for for you to let me know so I would ask that that be a two-way street in that regard um was there a followup on the second part of the question I'm sorry I think that just I think you got it m yeah town meeting can be confusing for residents despite our ongoing efforts to communicate the reasons for the Articles how can a board best prepare residents for the discussions and decisions necessary at a town meeting so I watched your couple of your town meetings um I think it's that direct form of government I think is great um it can get chaotic though uh that's why you have a moderator um and I know you had a long time moderator that may be recently retired but you have someone new I saw him um negotiate your special meeting recently on the warrant you had to repair the the Culvert um you know just let's take that for example um there was some wording in the warrant that necessitated clarification in that um and this is just my understanding of watching it that the warrant language that was advertise um had a debt exclusion language in there for prop two and a half which would kind of give the implication that taxes could be hit I mean proposition two and a half is the law that um limits your property tax um and then giving that clarification at the meeting by your your Council was was very helpful to let the people know no this is we're we're going for boring on this um this is going to be a debt issue it's going to come out of the general fund obviously to pay to pay back but it's not a debt exclusion increase on your taxes um you know just just using that as an example that was I think that something that may have got Lost in Translation and you handled it very well um I was involved in a town meeting where uh um they were able to use some technology where they had voting via uh buttons mhm and that was uh was involved in their first meeting that they had that technology and it worked very well um there was a a good amount of of registered voters at the meeting I would say maybe 50 um and and the the you know the hand count in that ballot can be confusing and having people that aren't registered comingled with the registered voters that type of thing so having a good moderator I think is is key to um keeping those meetings moving and keeping them statuto correct as well as you know let's get through this in a timely manner great Our Town Administrator works as our human resource officer interacting with all Town employees and overseeing the contract negotiation process with both our Union and our department heads can you describe your style of dealing with Personnel issues that may arise and give us an example of how you've been successful or creative in solving a a sensitive or complicated Personnel situation so we had a situation in a Uppa Township where um there was uh people were getting disgruntled with across the board um cost of living raises so everyone would get for example 2 and a half% uh despite you know not taking into consideration performance and that caused Rifts between people where there was clearly a low performing employee that was getting the same raise as a high performing employee uh so what we did um we had a very crude performance evaluation that nobody took seriously and the management didn't take it seriously the people didn't take seriously they passed in a form and there wasn't really a lot of thought put into it so we instituted a more robust uh performance evaluation system that included um above and beyond raises for performance that would be something obviously the board would have to consider it's outside of what normal raises would be for everyone there would still be a cost of living increase for everyone but if you achieved certain goals during the year that you sat down with your manager and at the beginning of the year and when it was time to to set the budget for the following fiscal year or calendar year those goals would be evaluated and if you met those goals if you're a high performing employee you would get you would get it above and beyond rais and that worked very well to motivate employees uh to continue doing the the best job that they could do because you don't want the situation where you have people making the same amount getting the same amount of raises but there's clearly a difference in performance that can cause a lack of motivation on the person that's low performing and a lack of motivation on the person that's high performing so having uh a reward mechanism and it doesn't have to be a lot um you know it could be an extra 1% or a half perc but something um to reward High performing employees outside of that normal situation that's one thing we were able to do to keep morale High because you know there's certain things in in in any organization where you know you can pay someone so much and then you get there's stuff after that has to take place to motivate people to do the best job that they can do and that can be done with a lot of different programs mission statements higher purpose things of that nature um but I truly believe in um one of the things I do daily and I'll just end with this quickly is uh one of the thing I with taken from me personally um giving people appreciation recognition encouragement on a daily basis goes a long way um getting a job well done so just recognizing someone's work and that they're doing a great job uh often gets missed in a in a busy work day and I always appreciate it when someone comes up to me and says great job I noticed what you did um that you're doing a great job thank you um appreciating that employee those little things you know outside of like giving somebody a raise um those little things can go a long way in making that employee happy at work thank you can you please give us specific examples on how you have participated in contract negotiations and manage contracts to ensure compliance by both the town and the employees m so I was part of two uh collective bargaining negotiations with our police Union um I think the law for for collective bargaining are similar in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were both commonwealths um so we had two police contracts come up for um renewal one we were able to uh settle with the police uh outside of arbitration one went to arbitration uh the arbitration process in Pennsylvania was one where there would be two neutrals and um there would be a neutral and then the the bargaining unit would select their arbitrator and the uh labor would uh the management would SE select there so there's a three-person arbitration panel and you're at the whim of what their decision is basically on what the police are going to get for their contract and typically though those are going to be in keeping with what other communities get so you're not really going to get a big surprise in that nature um that was the only only Union we had our Public Works um and everybody else was non-union so our only Union in the uh in in the fire in Pennsylvania is is primarily volunteer so uh two contract negotiations I understand collective bargaining and and it's it's a long process to to work with the police on issues and one of the things we were able to one of the highest costs uh to the town to our town and I think to your town or are your benefits especially um post-retirement Healthcare I don't know if you have that or whether it's part of the county system but post-retirement Health Care is very very expensive because it's forever um and it sometimes will go to the spouse and we were they were able they we negotiated a a more simpler it was called a Viva plan which was um they contributed it to it it wasn't something that the town took for full responsibility for so we were proud that we were able to reduce some of those post-retirement benefits okay this is a long one yep I'm ready Hatfield uses a team approach to our annual budget process we start by communicating with all of our department heads and then spend months working on a budget with our financial team that includes our finance committee Treasurer accountant Etc the Town Administrator serves as the qu back so to speak we would be very open to streamlining the process to the extent that it is possible all while making sure Town residents have a chance to witness how the budget is built so they are knowledgeable and prepared as possible to make decisions at town meeting please describe your experience and working on a municipal budget including specifics about the computer programs you use and then can you please hit us tell us about a budget practice that you have used that you found particularly successful or efficient could you repeat that I'm just Kidd so the budget process uh you started off by saying you know we meet with our department heads long before it's time to take it to town meeting so that process was the same with us we would our budget had to be adopted statutorily it wasn't it's a different law down there U but it's the principles are the same um our budget had to be adopted by uh December 15th um that they may not be exact but we would start meeting in Late July August to go over uh the next year before I go on about that process one thing I think that's very helpful throughout the year is to have a running you know I looked at your budget that you have posted um and it's not complicated but um it also doesn't have a lot of detail and I would want to maybe enhance that a little bit um in its presentation one thing that um was helpful for us is to meet quarterly with department heads and see where they're at as far as here's your budget for the year how much have you spent what do you what's your forecast basically do a lot of forecasting throughout the year here so that we're able to uh catch some overruns if they're going to occur early um so forecasting is is a big part of the budget process just during the year as a matter of course of of business having a regular meeting to to go over um what we think is lies ahead um that that's expected the things that we expect are going to happen that normally happen um so we would start that budget process in August we would meet with each department head and they would bring um basically their wish list for the coming year and would had everything they want um and that's when we would start to go through and say well you can't have everything so um we would you know and that that's kind of like a little game but they know what they want going in um this is what's important this is what we need um and it's not that um you know it's not a I shouldn't say it's a game um but it's you know it's like they'll bring a budget that yeah yeah we need this this is going to die in 3 years what do you need this year this is what we can afford this is our Revenue stream for the coming year your budget is overrun by for $150,000 you know we need to make cuts that that's just a regular practice that happens um and where you make those cuts is uh really what direction the board wants the town to go um do you want to buy a new police car or do you want to invest in the school and buy laptops for the students you know things of that nature um do you want to invest in your wastewater treatment plan your infrastructure you you set priorities and I hope we get to your your plan that you've um you put together but you set priorities on what you want to do in a comprehensive plan and hopefully your budgeting is in keeping with that as far as your goals the goals that you set in that plan so keeping your budget um attached to some type of goal that you have for the town that you've communicated to the residents I think is a good way to to keep coherence as far as what we're doing um this is what our goal is here's what our budget is and here's where we're going to put our money this year to reach that goal streamlining the process would be um getting people together and hopefully um having people prepared when they come in the first time with with with a good you know this is what I'm going to need that they so that you going down the line where we don't have some unexpected things pop up where now we have to deal with this and we we have a couple weeks left before we need to adopt this thing or bring it to the board uh bring it to the town meeting um the one thing I think would be helpful and I I you know to have a a good presentation about here's um like the pie chart is one thing that we used this is our Revenue this is the piece of the pie here's our expenditures I think graphically that's just a really easy way uh to present a budget to the public um this is where our money is going uh this is where our money comes from uh have it in a visual graphical sense rather than a an Excel spreadsheet um which can be difficult and small to read online so um having some some type of budget presentation each year that can go out prior to town meeting to the residents would be posted on the website I would think uh we had a budget presentation where I I wrote a budget message uh basically to the board um stating succinctly here's what uh our last year looked like um here's some of our accomplishments here are some of our challenges um and here is what we want to do moving forward so having a well-written budget message um and then backing that up with a graphical presentation of the budget um you know something that that the residents can take in very easily um rather than have to kind of you know dive into the numbers so the Town Administrator serves as a procurement officer for Hatfield this involves a solid understanding of the state's procurement laws and a strict adherence to all of those requirements can you describe your experience with this process including preparing bid specifications tracking bids and then awarding contracts so I don't have the uh there's a designation in Massachusetts certified purchasing officer I think um I don't have that designation um but I I don't know if they require it I would be happy to go to that training and and get that if if the board so desired um my my practical experience with purchasing um some things we did in Upper GW Township we were part of a collective purchasing program called um uh it was pen bid um there was a name for it but it was co-stars or something like that I don't quite remember but it was a collective purchasing that I'm sure you have as part of the Cog here in uh in Hampshire County um where the town could purchase materials in bulk and take advantage of economies of scale I think that's something that uh I would recommend keep keep doing or start doing um those are ways that towns can purchase materials with other towns uh in larger quantities so that the price goes down um as far as bids bid specifications and projects man I have done so much of that um I have in Princeton we I was part of an in-house engineering department the town engineer was a paid staff member and we wrote Our Own specifications and uh put our bids out um so we would create a book back then before everything was online uh that people would purchase and I was directly involved in the specifications up front um you know the summary of pay items like how how how you get paid um penalties um how um a project is successful uh when you have a good specification um if you don't have a detailed way uh and not let contractors take advantage of some loopholes that may be in there um it all starts with having a solid set of specs and clearly defining this is what you're we want you to do and this is how you're going to get paid for it um and that sometimes can be a challenge with contractors um where they haven't done their homework and they get stuck with uh bidding on something where they're overwhelmed and obviously the town would work with them in that regard but I have a lot of experience in project management bidding infrastructure projects um we had a we owned and operated our own wastewater treatment plant so we did we we had to do a lot of upgrades to our plant to meet our mpds permit um we were on a watershed in Pennsylvania that was um categorized by the EPA as um impaired which meant that we our discharge had to be treated very specialized and it cost a lot of money but we were luckily able to get grants and a lot of projects associated with that wwtp uh I was involved directly in that and upper gr I I have tons of project management experience and writing uh specifications technically I'm not an engineer but I I know it grants are an invaluable Financial resource for the town of Hatfield allowing us to do projects and offer programs that would be unaffordable otherwise please tell us and be specific as possible of grants that you have applied for been awarded and then executed including reporting to the grant agency and more specifically do you have direct experience with larger and more demanding Grant programs like Mass works so there's something similar in Pennsylvania which I'll get into but to start I have a lot of Grant uh writing uh administering closing out grants uh experience we I'll just give you an example I think this exists in Massachusetts it's part of a federal program there's a safe uh Safe Streets to to school um where you can get grant money to install sidewalks so that the kids can walk to school safely um those grants are typically not sophisticated in um as far as applying for those you have to have a plan where where you want to put the sidewalk and one thing about grants um the more complicated the the grant is I I would advise perhaps if you know bringing a consultant if the if the town is going after a very highly sophisticated Grant um that that the that the myself or the team here in Hai just doesn't have the capacity to handle and um I say that because in Pennsylvania we it's called growing Greener it's uh it's administered by the D through the EPA it's a Federal grant program where money's given for environmentally um projects that are are good for the environment um and we had a a a grant that was about $8 million that we got from from the federal government through the the uh pen Pennsylvania D to make improvements to our wastewater treatment plant to treat our affluent so that it met the uh the permit and we also had problems um I know that hfield is in the flood plane a lot of the area and um by Nature your sore plant's going to be at the lowest point in in town um but that makes it vulnerable to flooding um the MVP stuff that you're doing is great um the uh the grants associated with that in Pennsylvania were very similar our plant was at the low point in our town and and during high like the in it wasn't um like River flooding that you may have sporadically here here it was these high-intensity thunderstorms in the summer that would cause our plant to overflow basically so and when your plant or manholes start overflowing you get fined by the state and uh those fines can be expensive now the state will work with you if you're trying to do the right thing and obviously we had to make upgrades for our plant it was our technology was old uh and we needed to increase the capacity to meet those High storm events so the plant had to be re rated for a higher uh storm event uh and we were able to do that through the acquisition of a growing Greener Grand it was a big Grant uh I want to talk about grants a little bit more sometimes grants are not worth it um sometimes the the amount of sunk costs that you put into a grant not having the uh guarantee that you're going to even get it uh I think you have to evaluate that process up front um because you could put a lot of time into applying for a grant um making it perfect as you wanted to make it and it's just for whatever reason um you don't get awarded that Grant and and those monies aren't recovered so it's you got to be careful sometimes um about which grants you want to go after it's good to check with other communities and what they're experience with was working with the grant reviewers the agency that's giving the grant what type of paperwork do they want my experience with some grants is that the the reimbursement process can be incredibly difficult you have to have in maintain very meticulous records and for someone to stay on top of that as a full-time job sometimes if it's a sophisticated project you need pay stubs receipts and all this stuff has to be meticulous me if you don't have it you're not getting the money um so and I just say that grants are great absolutely take know the town should take advantage of Any Grant opportunity you can get but just be aware that sometimes it it may not be worth it to go after that but I do have a we just heading we used a consultant um and and the money that we paid for this consultant to prepare the Grant application for us was peanuts I mean compared to what we got in return and he knows the system basically this this consulting firm uh he knows the people that are going to review it he knows what to expect he knows how to write it um so if there was a bigger grant that the town was going after it would be wise to maybe seek some technical help in that either but I smaller grants I've written I know how to fill out the app ation and I know what to expect on the end I mean that's the most important part is that the money is reimbursed typically so you have to put half field budgets the money in their general fund budget you spend it and then you know Mike do we get that money yet so I'm still waiting sorry they want this we gave it to them now they want this you know so it can be frustrating towns often have projects that take years to complete Hatfield's no different additionally we have several large projects and we hope to at least explore in the next 5 to 10 years such as a public safety building Council on Aging space what is your direct experience with managing large projects from idea to [Music] completion uh so we large projects in Upper gona Township were mostly infrastructure we did however have a uh we had we had a they have a community center there that was old and the roof leaked and um it was just old and there was constant maintenance so the town explored building a community center and part of that process was hiring a design firm to give us options basically so I would uh I would advise if if you're going to go after if you're going to build a library or a community center or some other type of building facility that uh you consult with somebody that gives you option A B C D um and see what the town Comfort level is with with the costs and with the amenities um so they threw out this community center that had an indoor running track on the second floor it had everything a pool um you know pickle ball courts it was nuts to bolts and it cost you know $25 million right so that that's not going to going to fly so give us give us something that's scaled down a bit and and having those options available to you can inform you to make a better decision how you want to move forward and what what the town really needs basically you don't want to build something that no one's going to use um so you know having a sense of so prior to even going into the the concept of where we're going to build it what we're going to build what is it that the town wants and needs so doing some simple surveys uh would be helpful to see what what what do we want uh what do we need do we need um some tennis courts or do we want a full multi-use path or something of that nature um do we need a new library do we need an addition to the library um so getting a a a sense of you know again you don't want to build something that's going to be empty half the time and and um that can be embarrassing for the the board and the staff here and um it's not something that I have direct experience doing but you know we were cautioned against doing things of that nature um we um we were able to build it was small but um there was uh the town wanted pickle ball courts we had this beautiful Central Park um that was right where the the municipal complex was there the police was there and there was we had this beautiful old wooden playground structure it was a great Gathering space we had a carnival there every year um and we had tennis courts lighted basketball courts and we just didn't have room for pickle ball there just wasn't any room to put these courts so we were able to modify two tennis courts uh into pickle ball when they wanted to play pickle ball uh and then we kind of had to work with the tennis people because you know there was a little bit of conflict there because they're going to be using their court but um major projects I'm not sure what the town has in mind if there's something specific um I could go into further detail but in general you want to make sure that you're You're Building what the town wants and needs two more questions yes we're getting there Hatfield has just completed a very in-depth comprehens comprehensive plan that will guide us into the next 20 years yes um with a special emphasis on housing yes um please describe any work you have done on housing projects in other communities yep so we had several developments come in for approval in Upper gona Township it was primarily built out um Community there wasn't a lot of vacant land however there was redeveloped land um and that came uh in the form of an old concrete plant that closed um that uh the developer purchased the rights of that uh and then we had some some open land where we had some homes come in um I believe Massachusetts has an affordable housing element um that you need to provide certain amount of affordable housing when you're building housing units so that's the law basically so um that's something that the town would have to adhere to as far as bringing in you know your your middle class community let's say um the developer is going to build what he's going to be able to sell um so what we had developers come in that would come in with a plan that the town didn't like it was too dense there were too many units there wasn't enough open space there wasn't enough amenities uh it was too close there was there was no connectivity as far as walking paths um it was out there in the middle of nowhere uh there were some problems with traffic that would were going to be concerned with you know people coming in and out of this development so I have a lot of experience working from developers coming in with housing um this is what we want to build you know we want to build $750,000 homes that we think the market can bear here in the town um was careful to say no um at first uh and then eventually you come to terms and you have a plan that everyone can live with one of the things we had in our zoning ordinance is a uh cluster development zoning ordinance which allowed for denser uh setbacks in in lie of having a great open space so you preserved so what we did was there was he came in with a bunch of houses right up on the street we were able to he redesigned it so that as you entered the property it was all open space so that as you drove by it you didn't see the homes the woods were preserved uh and the homes were down the hill and into the into the area so the nature of that drive in the community wasn't hit with this glaring new Housing Development but you're still you're still getting more tax you know base for for the community for people to move in here that want to live Happ is a great town I mean if you have places uh to build and developers um have a market for it um I would I would highly suggest looking at your zoning ordinance and I know that your your master plan contemplated that um I was able to read that I think that was an excellent document um prepared by the and with helping with your committee and um you know the Planning Commission it was uh it really was a very well very thoughtful document and I got a lot out of it I brought it here um the summary of The Matrix and goals and um the affordable housing element um you know you have seniors that you need that want to stay in place so you know it's kind of it's a balancing act always with these things you you have to balance the um the need for affordable housing with what the market can bear because developers are are not going to build something where they can't profit it's just the nature of it so having that mindset going in is that yeah we'll work with you on this but we want something in return and and most in my experience they know this um going in and it's just like they'll put everything out there and are willing to scale it back uh knowing what their bottom line is basically so to speak um but I also think just being a single guy now um housing is very expensive um I mean I couldn't afford to buy a house in ffield to be quite honest with you um and um that's something that that I'm I'm experienced directly so you know having perhaps a uh an affordable housing element of some other type of housing where you can make some town houses or apartments part of that um you know Tastefully done too we don't want um something that the community is not going to embrace like so having design standards and things of that nature which which I think you're plan did a great job in in addressing those things thank you lastly okay what aspects of this job most inspire you and how will you measure your success as a Town Administrator um so so my what what inspires me most so I didn't go into the public sector to get rich obviously um and I really did not go into it for any type of political aspiration um I liked the work that I was doing uh in the engineering department I was able to work on projects and and really learn a lot about what local governments do um the services that local governments deliver to their residents are part of their daily life um some people don't even know what's going on when you flush the toilet or where the water comes from um and these things are very important people take that for granted um and I was very interested in um getting into this and in understanding you know what goes into creating a community where people um have a high quality of life um and part of that is having a what I call a public service motivation um and basically what that comes down to is my goal is to be helpful um that's I don't look for my success is measured on how much I can help somebody um people that come into this office and are looking for help will never be turned away uh by me um if I need to meet with them another time I'm busy obviously that's that's something that I would set up with them but any concern that somebody has they can come directly to me to talk about it um and you know I dealt a lot of with people coming in having complaints my neighbors draining on to my property all kinds of stuff all day people will come in with these property issues um and a lot of the times they'll come in angry um maybe some staff member had a bad encounter with them and my uh approach was to take them into our little conference room off to the side sit them down and listen like what do you got to tell me um and listen carefully to their concerns and coming up with some type of solution that would be uh agreeable to both parties and that's sometimes hard to get to that uh but not giving up on it is something that I pride myself in um you have situations where you know like private property issues especially like we just don't have control over this a private property issue that's not what we do it's illegal um we can't go in there and put a pipe in uh to pipe your drainage um at the town's expense and on private property um however what we can do is mutually look for a solution that benefits a lot more people to maybe improve drainage in a certain in a certain area by increasing U capacity of a pipe or extending a pipe in a drain so that people can tie their sump pumps in underground and um do things of that nature so that these drainage issues a lot of what I dealt with were drainage issues quite frankly um and I think you probably have a lot of that in in Hatfield just because of the low-lying nature of the the area um so you know that's the reason I got into this honestly in in in the point I am in my career and in my life now that's my goal is to just is to try and help people out with their problems when they come in on a day-to-day basis and making sure that they know that I'm listening to them and I hear you and um I'm going to do what I the best I can to solve the problem it may not be what you want or what you expect but uh hopefully it'll be something that you can walk away with happy great thank you very much you're welcome we got through all of them all right yeah excellent well thank you um it's been a pleasure meeting you great thanks for coming out today thank you yes been a pleasure meeting you all thank you welome all right great great thank you very much