AMHERST – As in-person screenings of semifinalists for the Amherst town manager position begin this week, the Select Board Monday decided it hopes to select the town’s new leader by early May.
Peter Hechenbleikner, the town’s interim town manager, said Tuesday that the Select Board decided it will name a permanent town manager at a meeting at Town Hall scheduled for 6 p.m. May 5, a few days after the board completes two-hour interviews with up to five finalists.
This is a reasonable schedule that will conclude a “focused, but inclusive” process, Hechenbleikner said.
Contract negotiations, which would be complete within 10 days of the selection, would allow the permanent town manager to be in place by the middle of June. The permanent town manager would be the first for Amherst since John Musante died in September.
Hechenbleikner, who started in his role Feb. 1, said he is capped to 960 hours of work based on his state pension, but that he will be able to stay until summer if there is any delay in the selection.
“My anticipation is to be out of here by mid-July, at the latest,” Hechenbleikner said.
The screening committee is interviewing, in sessions closed to the public, around 10 semifinalists put forward by Bernard Lynch, an executive recruiter who runs the Plymouth-based Community Paradigm Associates that the town is paying up to $12,875. That committee will make recommendations for the finalists.
The current schedule for finalists includes time for interviews with each, with the first taking place at 6 p.m. April 21, and subsequent interviews at the same time on April 25, 26, 27 and 29. Each will be done at Town Hall.
Each finalist will begin the day in Amherst by meeting with Lynch at 8:45 a.m., followed by a 30-minute meeting with the Select Board. Then, the finalists will get a nearly three-hour tour of the town led by Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek, have lunch with other senior staff, and spend the afternoon walking around the community with Geoffrey Kravitz, the town’s economic development director, and Christine Brestrup, the interim planning director.
These days conclude with a 90-minute question-and-answer session with the community, led by Lynch, at 3 p.m., prior to the two-hour Select Board interviews.
Hechenbleikner said the interview process is different from that used by the town in 2006, when Laurence Shaffer was hired to succeed Barry Del Castilho. At that time, the three finalists, including Musante, participated in a joint forum on a Friday night and separate tours and interviews during the weekend.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
