We have to assume from all the emotion and tempestuousness in Orange Town Hall, that the town’s civic leaders really love their town — but that they sometimes disagree on what’s best for it.
How else do you explain the arguments, allegations of favoritism and complaints to the State Ethics Commission over the past several weeks concerning selection of the next town administrator?
The last four meetings of the Selectboard, now a five-member body, have dwelled on the question of how to proceed with hiring a permanent town administrator. The meetings have been fraught with quarrels, questions of integrity and even tears.
The Town Administrator Search Committee, chaired by Police Chief Craig Lundgren, has spent much of the last year interviewing and screening 22 applicants for the job vacated last summer by Diana M. Schindler.
When Lundgren presented the names of the Search Committee’s three finalists, the announcement opened a rift among Selectboard members.
Selectboard Vice Chairman Ryan Mailloux took issue with the Search Committee’s exclusion of acting Town Administrator Gabriel Voelker, who is also the town treasurer.
Mailloux, a Voelker fan, complained “integrity could not have been used” in a selection process that left her name off the finalist list from which the Selectboard must pick a winner.
“I think there was some behind-the-scenes that led us to exclude possible candidates,” Mailloux said, asserting Voelker has proved her abilities and commitment to Orange, while the other applicants have not. He then added that Voelker has made Orange a “significantly greater place” and that her exclusion was “a slap in the face.”
Selectwoman Jane Peirce also disagreed with Voelker exclusion, saying the acting town administrator should be interviewed as a common courtesy.
Subsequently, Search Committee members Jeffrey Cole and Shirley Barrus blast Mailloux for his statements, which they found disrespectful to the committee and Lundgren.
“I would like to go on record with my disgust,” Cole said.
Other Selectboard members also pushed back against Mailloux’s comments, including his own chairman, Richard Sheridan, who reported Mailloux and Peirce to the State Ethics Commission, alleging the two had shown favoritism in the hiring process.
It’s unclear where that complaint will lead, if anywhere. But since then, things seem to have settled down enough for the process to move forward — with the search committee bringing forward two new finalists including, guess who? Voeckler. It seems that cooler heads have prevailed for the greater good.
The finalists now are Candace Ouillette Gaumond of Ware, the administrative assistant to the town administrator and Selectboard in Wilbraham; Johanna Swain of Barre, the executive secretary and acting town administrator in West Brookfield; Kerrie Carnes Salwa of Clinton, economic development director in Leominster and Voelker of New Salem.
“I think that this is a serious position and we need to give each candidate serious interviews and attention,” Peirce asserted at a recent meeting.
It’s clear that is a sentiment all five Selectboard members share, even if they ultimately may not agree on their favorite finalists.
And so, the interviewing stage begins, and we hope that all five Selectboard members will do a thorough and thoughtful job at this final public stage of the hiring process — and bring as much care and respect to the process as the search committee did behind the scenes in past months.