AMHERST — If Amherst’s form of government changes and the town manager’s position is altered or eliminated before August 2019, the new manager’s contract offers him protections so that he is not left without a job and income.
The extent of the protections that should be offered in the contract became one of the key factors in the Select Board’s turning to Paul Bockelman, the director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, after negotiations broke down with the first choice for the job.
Uncertainty about the town’s future government structure was a worry for Maria Capriola, the first person who was offered the job, according to minutes from an executive, or closed, session of the Select Board on May 16.
Capriola, the assistant town manager in Mansfield, Connecticut, ended negotiations with the town less than two weeks after her May 5 selection.
Based on the minutes from the May 16 meeting, Capriola had expressed worry about the outcome of the Charter Commission’s study of town government and requested a full-year severance should the town manager’s position change.
“Capriola stated that a high priority item for her was nine to 12 months of severance for termination for any reason, and 12 months’ severance for a change of government that substantially diminished or eliminated the town manager position,” wrote Peter Hechenbleikner, the interim town manager, in the May 16 meeting minutes.
That executive session came several hours after Capriola had already informed Human Resources Director Deborah Radway that she was no longer interested in coming to Amherst.
The Select Board’s contract with Bockelman gives him less than a year’s severance pay, with the agreement stating that “if the town eliminates or substantially modifies the duties and responsibilities of the town manager position in a change of form of government,” within 60 days he would be given, at the town’s option, either “a management position of comparable responsibility acceptable to the town manager with identical pay and benefits, or severance payment of identical pay for six months or until Aug. 21, 2019, whichever is greater.”
Hechenbleikner said this week that it is only natural that finalists entering into negotiations would want some level of assurance about the job they are taking on.
“It protects the town and it protects the new town manager,” Hechenbleikner said.
He acknowledges that the requests were different from Capriola and Bockelman, which may have to do with where they are in their respective careers. But having the guarantee of salary and job after the Charter Commission does its work was vital, Hechenbleikner said.
“I would say it was a very important issue for both candidates,” he added.
After Capriola withdrew, the Select Board held another executive session May 18 during which it decided to offer Bockelman the job. The minutes from that meeting report that “Bockelman expressed concern about severance benefits if a new form of government without a town manager were approved.”
“Anybody who would be knowledgeable and applying for a position would discover the Charter Commission question being on the ballot at that time and would have concerns about it,” Hechenbleikner said.
The minutes also reflect other concerns for Capriola being “the comparative cost of housing in Amherst, (and) the significant difference in pension benefits between Connecticut and Massachusetts.”
Bernard Lynch, the executive recruiter hired by the town to assist a search committee, said possible changes a Charter Commission might study were a worry for potential candidates.
“I don’t think anyone I spoke to didn’t apply after we talked, though it was on the minds of a lot of people,” Lynch said.
But he was able to answer those concerns by letting applicants know that much of the focus of a Charter Commission would be on the legislative aspect of town government, Town Meeting, and not the executive branch.
“Amherst has had a tremendous amount of success with professional management,” said Lynch, observing that Bockelman will be just the sixth manager. “Most people saw the charter vote as a review of Amherst’s legislative process.”
Most candidates also understood that, if chosen by the Select Board, they could negotiate terms of the contract and address, in some ways, what the Charter Commission might recommend, he said.
“But what you can negotiate is limited to what can make you whole,” Lynch said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
