AMHERST — Paul Bockelman, the director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, will be Amherst’s sixth permanent town manager.
The Select Board voted unanimously Wednesday on a three-year contract with Bockelman that will pay him $155,000 annually. Bockelman, of Somerville, will begin his new job Aug. 22.
“I’m happy and excited to begin work in Amherst,” said Bockelman, reached by telephone Wednesday evening before a meeting of the Somerville School Committee, which he serves as chairman.
Bockelman added that he looks forward to assisting Amherst’s talented staff and volunteers, and coming back to a “progressive, caring community.”
“We are very happy to welcome Paul, a Hampshire College alum, back to his beloved Amherst,” Select Board Chairwoman Alisa Brewer said in a statement she read following the vote. “His experiences working with a wide variety of municipalities and agencies across the commonwealth, and as a long-serving elected member of the Somerville School Committee, provide him the tools to help Amherst navigate our many challenges in providing all the services our community wants, at a price our taxpayers can bear.”
Bockelman will succeed John Musante, who died in September.
“The town has been through a lot in the last year and managed it really well,” Bockelman said.
He praised the steady hands of Peter Hechenbleikner, the interim town manager since Feb. 1, and the work done before then by David Ziomek, assistant town manager and director of conservation and development.
Bockelman was one of three finalists for the permanent position brought forward by a search committee that was assisted by consultant Bernard Lynch of Plymouth. The Select Board turned to Bockelman in a unanimous vote May 18 after its first choice, Maria Capriola, withdrew when contract negotiations broke down. Capriola is the assistant town manager in Mansfield, Connecticut.
The third finalist, Montpelier, Vermont, city manager William Fraser, withdrew before the Select Board began its deliberations May 5.
The vote on the contract and its signing came following a 25-minute executive session.
“We’re very pleased to culminate this process,” said Select Board member Constance Kruger.
Other details about Bockelman’s contract will be available Thursday, when it will be posted on the town’s website.
Brewer thanked the subcommittee that did much of the negotiating over the past two weeks. That included Select Board members Andrew Steinberg and Douglas Slaughter, Human Resources Director Deborah Radway and Hechenbleikner.
Bockelman said he will conclude his work at the Massachusetts Municipal Association and on the Somerville school panel in the coming weeks and plans to visit Amherst for several days during the summer “to get oriented” before his official start date.
Meanwhile, Hechenbleikner and Ziomek will prepare a work plan so Bockelman can begin addressing the town’s most pressing needs when he starts.
Prior to working at the MMA, where he has been employed since 2004, Bockelman served as operations manager for the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, town administrator in Manchester-by the-Sea and assistant director of the Cambridge Historical Commission.
In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Hampshire, Bockelman earned a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
