AMHERST – A contract for Amherst’s next town manager may be approved by the Select Board at its meeting Wednesday.
The board is scheduled to meet in executive session to discuss contract negotiations beginning at 5 p.m. in the Town Room at Town Hall. The board may then reconvene in an open session to ratify a contract with the new town manager.
On May 18, the board voted unanimously to name Paul Bockelman of Somerville, the director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, as the next town manager. He would succeed John Musante, who died in September.
On May 5, Mansfield, Connecticut assistant town manager Maria Capriola was named as the new town manager, but negotiations ended when she withdrew by telling the board the overall compensation and benefits package were not sufficient to leave her current position and relocate her family.
A third finalist, Montpelier, Vermont city manager William Fraser, withdrew before the Select Board deliberated on which finalist to choose.
“There’s certainly potential for the process to be concluded” Wednesday, Peter Hechenbleikner, the interim town manager since February, said Tuesday.
The position was advertised with a starting salary of $155,000, depending on qualifications. Bockelman has informed town officials that his contract requirements are in line with the town’s expectations, said Select Board Chairwoman Alisa Brewer.
Hechenbleikner said he anticipates remaining in Amherst until early August, likely cutting back to three days per week to stay within the 960 hour limit imposed by the state retirement system. He has been working an average of 3½ -day weeks, he said.
When a new town manager begins, Hechenbleikner said he will give that person his observations and recommendations about Amherst government in a confidential memorandum. He said he began compiling the information for this memo on his first day on the job.
“The new person can take them or not,” Hechenbleikner said.
Hechenbleikner said he will also offer broad impressions about Amherst town government to the Select Board before he departs. Should the Select Board want this information, these details would be provided at a public session during the summer.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
