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Marblehead's departing chief financial officer, Aleesha Nunley Benjamin, said she is leaving for Nantucket to better provide for her family, offering her first extended explanation for a move that has unsettled the two most senior posts in town government within the same stretch of months.
In a statement, Benjamin said the decision carried no hidden message about Marblehead or its direction.
“The decision to leave was incredibly difficult and one that I did not make lightly," she said. "My choice is not a reflection of my commitment to public service or my affection for Marblehead. Rather, it is an opportunity that enables me to better provide for my family while continuing the work I am deeply passionate about in public service."
The explanation addresses a question left open when the town announced her departure July 10: whether Benjamin was leaving in tandem with Town Administrator Thatcher W. Kezer III, who plans to retire Dec. 31. Kezer has said he reached his decision before the June override vote, and Benjamin's statement now frames her own exit as separate and personal rather than a response to the turnover around her.
Benjamin will become chief financial officer for Nantucket, where she is scheduled to start in September. Her departure and Kezer's leave the two highest administrative offices in Marblehead open within roughly four months of each other, just as the town begins spending the largest tax increase its voters have approved.
She cast the past several years as demanding but worth it.
“I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together, particularly during some very difficult budget years," Benjamin said, adding that she leaves "knowing that I gave this role my whole heart, my unwavering commitment, and my very best every single day."
The support she encountered during the override, she said, "meant more to me than words can adequately express."
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A parting assessment of the books
Benjamin used the statement to reassure residents about the town's finances as she goes. Marblehead, she said, is "in a good financial position with the override, excluded debt, and now a recurring million dollars for capital needs."
Those pillars track the case she made repeatedly in public meetings. On June 9, voters approved a $15 million operating override and a $2,298,575 trash and recycling override, a combined $17.3 million increase to the tax levy; the operating measure passed 4,278-3,594. Benjamin had argued for months that voter-approved debt exclusions were helping hold the town's AAA bond rating while day-to-day operations went underfunded.
“We’re not funding our operations and maintenance, and that's a serious issue," she told officials in October.
Kezer, announcing her exit, credited Benjamin with the analyses beneath the override and with modernizing a finance operation he inherited in rough shape. She "played a critical role in developing the detailed financial analyses that supported our annual budgets and Proposition 2½ override planning," he said, calling her "an exceptional member of our leadership team."
The continuity problem she leaves behind
Benjamin's assurance that the town is on solid footing does not resolve the continuity problem her exit compounds. Much of the forecasting, the migration to the Munis accounting system and an unfinished reorganization of the finance department were closely identified with Benjamin herself.
The town has said it will begin recruiting a new chief financial officer immediately, with Benjamin assisting through August, even as the Select Board separately hunts for a firm to run the search for Kezer's successor. Board Chair Dan Fox has said he hopes to select that firm by late July or mid-August, leaving Marblehead roughly six months to fill the top administrative job and a tighter window to fill the finance post.
Benjamin closed by wishing the town well. "I will always be grateful for the trust that was placed in me and for the opportunity to contribute to its future," she said. "I wish the town of Marblehead continued success for many years to come."
