SOUTH HADLEY — Michael Sullivan, the town administrator, received high marks and praise from the Select Board in his annual performance review, as he begins his fourth year in the job.
“All the board members felt you have done an excellent job,” Chairman John Hine told Sullivan during the board’s meeting Tuesday.
Board member Ira Brezinski commended Sullivan for having successfully “navigated treacherous waters” in how he manages town affairs, praising him for listening and taking the pulse of the town instead of “coming in like gangbusters” when he began.
Sullivan, a former mayor of Holyoke who was town administrator in Maynard, thanked the Select Board for their praise and also commended “the really good team in Town Hall.”
On his written review, Sullivan got his highest mark, a 4.7 out of a possible 5, for policy development. His lowest mark was a 4.1 for communications and community relations, though the written comments noted the “public praise” he received “about his communications to Town Meeting members concerning the construction of the FY 17 budget.”
He also got high scores for organizational structure, fiscal management and innovation.
The Select Board welcomed a new Council on Aging director, Leslie Hennessey, giving her a chance to introduce herself to the community.
Hennessey told the meeting, which is broadcast on public access television, about her long experience working with seniors.
She is leaving a job of 11 years in marketing and volunteer coordination with Hospice Life Care, part of the Holyoke Visiting Nurse Association. Before that, she served as assistant director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Western Massachusetts for more than four years.
Hennessey attended a party at the senior center that day celebrating all June birthdays and anniversaries and observed the Meals on Wheels program, which she likened to “a Ford Motor assembly line.”
She has begun the $54,500-a-year job and will overlap with the outgoing director Joanne Trybus, whose salary is $57,000, until July 1, according to Sullivan. Trybus is retiring after three decades.
The Select Board named Richard Matteson to the Council on Aging and Denise Presley to the Cable TV Advisory Committee.
Matteson, who has been the minister of music at the First Congregational Church in Amherst since April 2008, previously served on the South Hadley Cultural Council and recently ran unsuccessfully for library trustee. He told the board that he is “a hands-on person who enjoys policy-making decisions” as well as helping with tasks.
Presley briefed the board on her work at the station producing a new show called “Speaking of South Hadley.” She said she has four episodes finished, one of which is about golf and the others on the town’s two water districts. She once hosted an urban affairs show on Chicago public access television, and has professional experience producing high-end corporate videos.
“I know the power of cable TV when citizens get involved,” said Presley, explaining why she wanted to be on the board. She said she wants to get more students involved with the station.
The Select Board paid tribute to Kylie Byron for receiving her Girl Scout Silver Award and Joshua Virgil McKeever for making Eagle Scout.
Byron, who was present to receive a plaque and flowers from Hine on the behalf of the Select Board, said her award project involved devoting a month to promoting “clean streets” in South Hadley.
The South Hadley Lions Club has received a one-day wine and liquor license for its 70th anniversary celebration at Buttery Brook Park on June 18.
The Select Board approved a new bus stop in front of Town Hall for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus line X90, which runs between Chicopee and the Holyoke Transit Center.
It will later consider plans for a stop in the other direction, which Sullivan said “would take some work” to install along the Beach Grounds Park.
Eric Goldscheider can be reached at eric.goldscheider@gmail.com.