AMHERST — A vibrant downtown that attracts visitors to shop and dine, but also offers places for people to live and work, is appreciated by William Fraser, the city manager of Montpelier, Vermont.
“The downtown area is the one everybody shares,” Fraser said during an interview Tuesday evening with the Select Board as a finalist for Amherst’s town manager position.
Just hours after getting a tour of the business district, Fraser said he sees a commercial area that has a critical mass of restaurants that make Amherst a regional destination.
“You have to look at what you can support and what your market is,” Fraser said.
Having a thriving downtown is a concept with which he is familiar from his 21 years in Montpelier, where Montpelier Alive, an organization similar to the Amherst Business Improvement District, has worked toward creating a 24-hour atmosphere with the encouragement of the city government.
“People are very proud of downtown. As I said, it’s a lot of effort,” Fraser said.
Fraser was the second finalist interviewed, following Maria Capriola, assistant town manager in Mansfield, Connecticut, who spent a day in Amherst on Monday. The third finalist, Paul Bockelman, director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, will be interviewed at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Town Room at Town Hall.
The Select Board anticipates hiring a permanent town manager to replace the late John Musante at its meeting May 5.
Fraser said the most important thing for a town manager to accomplish is delivering great services on a daily basis — having fire and police departments respond quickly to medical emergencies and criminal matters, and the Department of Public Works fix potholes in a reasonable amount of time.
“Everything that we do, we’re spending taxpayer money, we’re spending community resources, to get done,” Fraser said,
This means the need to show compassion toward all residents and to investigate when complaints are brought. “You do have to be patient and respectful,” Fraser said.
While he appreciates the economic development downtown, Fraser said affordable housing, too, has been an important issue in Montpelier, with efforts to leverage city money to get private developers to provide housing that is sold or rented at below-market rate.
“We try to partner with people who do that,” Fraser said.
He said town government can set policies to encourage affordable housing, but should not be undertaking the construction itself. “I’m not sure we should be building co-housing and managing apartments and all that,” Fraser said.
A robust hiring process ensures bringing good employees in at all levels of the organization. “In some regards, that is our biggest resource,” Fraser said.
He prioritizes outreach to make sure the community will have a diverse workforce and that members of municipal committees reflect the existing racial, ethnic and economic diversity.
“I think it’s really important that we strive to reflect the community we serve,” Fraser said.
Though he has enjoyed a mostly positive experience in his current job, Fraser said one of the biggest challenges came nearly three years ago, when he fired Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the city’s planning and community development director
Fraser said he takes blame for waiting too long to handle the situation, even though he had been hearing complaints from employees about her and friction developed between her and the offices of the mayor and city manager.
“Ultimately, enough went on that I felt we had the grounds to terminate her,” Fraser said.
Reviewing staff performance is another area of his job he finds difficult.
“I’m going to confess that the worst thing I do as manager is reviews,” Fraser said.
He said he does not consider himself a micromanager, but rather a leader who sets goals and sees what employees need in terms of professional development and how to motivate them. He holds everyone accountable for achieving goals, and also strives to have them become leaders through professional development opportunities.
“I view our staff as a team. We try to work closely as a collaborative team,” Fraser said.
Fraser said the relationship between the town manager and Select Board is a partnership that depends on open communication. In his current job, he sends weekly memos with updates to the city council and wants these representatives to be aware of issues when approached by constituents.
“I try to practice if you tell one you tell them all, particularly with important information,” Fraser said.
If selected as manager, he would set a common understanding of roles and boundaries for the town manager and the members of the Select Board.
In his current job, he negotiates directly with three unions and has a role in the development of the city budget.
He also is experienced at lobbying and said he is prepared to go to legislative hearings and be involved in organizations such as the Massachusetts Municipal Association. He’s prepared to demand seats at tables, understanding Amherst is more distant from the state capital.
“It’s a little different in Montpelier — (state government) is right there,” Fraser said.
Fraser said doing outreach to key players at the University of Massachusetts and building rapport with officials at the campus is vital.
His visit with town departments gives him confidence that Amherst has hired well. “You can tell people have a lot of pride in Amherst,” Fraser said.
If selected, the 56-year-old Fraser, who is married and has four children, said he would like to live in Amherst.
“My thought would be to move to town,” Fraser said. “That’s important.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
