AMHERST — A divided Select Board Thursday named Maria Capriola as Amherst’s next town manager, with members who supported her selection saying she could bring positive change to the college town after spending a decade working in the host community of the University of Connecticut.
In a 3-2 vote, the board decided to hire Capriola, assistant town manager in Mansfield, Connecticut, to succeed late town manager John Musante, choosing her over Paul Bockelman, director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Munuicipal Association.
“This is about picking the town manager we need now in Amherst,” said Chairwoman Alisa Brewer, who voted with the majority following about two hours of discussion.
Brewer said Capriola, 36, would be a “wonderful fit for Amherst” because of her experience in a college town that has seen appropriate residential and commercial development, the relationships she has built with UConn and her potential outreach to millennials due to her youth.
“I find that fact very appealing,” Brewer said.
But board member Andrew Steinberg said he had serious reservations about hiring Capriola, especially with a Charter Commission studying Amherst’s form of government.
“I think we are in a very delicate place because of the transition we’ve gone through and questions and uncertainty of the charter,” Steinberg said.
Pending successful contract negotiations with the Select Board, Capriola would become the town’s sixth permanent town manager, and first woman to hold the position. The board advertised that the starting salary would be $155,000.
A third finalist, Montpelier (Vermont) City Manager William Fraser, 56, withdrew from consideration Wednesday.
The Gazette could not reach Capriola for comment Thursday night, though Brewer said she spoke to her after the decision and said she would come to Amherst on Monday to begin talking about the job.
Brewer said the board was presented with “excellent finalists” by a preliminary screening committee. She argued against making a choice based on whose professional career was longer.
“I’m really uncomfortable with only going by years of experience in the chair,” Brewer said.
Steinberg said Bockelman was someone who could command instant respect from town employees, and he expressed concern that if Capriola doesn’t do likewise that it would be “very detrimental to the town as an organization.”
In addition, Steinberg said it is vital that the next town manager bring financial skills, with the need to hire a replacement for former Finance Director Sanford “Sandy” Pooler.
Board member James Wald, who voted for Capriola, said he sees gridlock in town government and Capriola might take Amherst affairs in a direction that could smooth this over.
Both finalists expressed appreciation for Amherst, with Bockelman a Hampshire College graduate interested in returning, and Capriola visiting several times since becoming a candidate.
“We’re left with the two candidates most enthusiastic about Amherst,” Wald said.
Though initially in favor of Bockelman, Select Board member Constance Kruger said Capriola brings an impressive resume, seems personable and “I thought she would be a change agent if she came to Amherst.”
“I liked both candidates and thought both candidates could do the job,” Kruger said.
“Who would be the strongest? It’s a gamble,” Kruger added.
While hesitant to choose Capriola, Steinberg said that “I, too, found her to be an impressive, likable person.”
Prior to the board’s vote, members spent nearly two hours discussing the positive attributes of the candidates, as well as concerns.
Kruger said Capriola, who is married with a daughter, would bring youth and enthusiasm to Town Hall, which could be important in attracting and retaining staff.
“But I also felt she might not have enough experience in her career yet for the top leadership role in Amherst,” Kruger said, which would make it challenging to deal with Town Meeting and the Select Board.
“She is very articulate, speaks well,” Steinberg said. “I think she would bring a change to Amherst, she would be very different from Amherst town managers past.”
But he worried about the stability she might provide. “I’m not sure she’s been tested with that kind of public interface and being in the top position,” Steinberg said.
Brewer disagreed with this assertion. “I don’t think it would be unstable to bring her on, I think it would be different,” she said.
Capriola brings skills at both financial management and human resources, Wald said.
Wald also suggested that stability is provided by employees, town officials and committee members. “I’m not worried about stability, I’m thinking about the future,” Wald said.
“I think I saw someone who was very energetic and likes to try out things — intellectual curiosity for its own sake,” Wald said.
Also voting for Capriola was board member Douglas Slaughter who said he saw precise and literal answers to how she would manage Amherst, and appreciates her potential for growth and willingness to learn and take suggestions.
“For me, given what we know about the staff that exists around this manager, they have a tremendous opportunity to support whomever,” Slaughter said.
Though not chosen, Bockelman was described by board members as a strong candidate with experience in local government as well as at MMA and Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Agency.
“It’s a safe choice, you’d know what you’re getting,” Wald said. “I think we would make a mistake if we were to shortchange that.”
Slaughter said Bockelman’s management experience is broad, though he said he seemed to offer less precise answers, perhaps because he is removed from local government management, having last served as town administrator at Manchester-by-the-Sea in 1999.
“I think he is certainly politically perceptive,” Slaughter said.
Kruger said she was impressed by Bockelman’s reorganization of government in Manchester, and his current decade-long tenure on the elected Somerville School Committee.
“I thought that Paul Bockelman had a lot of relevant experience,” Kruger said.
Steinberg said Bockelman can understand good and bad practices in municipalities across the state, and he also knows political players throughout the state.
“He brings a breadth of experience with him that I think will enable him to do some things very quickly,” Steinberg said.
Brewer said these sorts of connections are “huge and very valuable” and would have compensated for his management experience being 17 years ago.
The decision concludes a process that began in December when the town hired Bernard Lynch, principal at Community Paradigm Associates LLC of Plymouth, as its executive recruiter. Lynch assisted Human Resources Director Deborah Radway in putting together community forums in January to get feedback for what the public wanted in its next town manager, writing a position profile and advertising for the job, helping the screening committee with its interviews and then doing reference and criminal background checks before the Select Board did two-hour interviews last week.
The meeting, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., started nearly 20 minutes late due to traffic that delayed arrival of Select Board members, which Brewer attributed to move-out day at UMass, an influx of people for Friday’s commencement and the monthly ArtWalk Amherst.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
