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Marblehead’s screening committee staged three closed-door sessions between Oct. 16 and Oct. 20 to consider applicants to succeed Town Administrator Thatcher W. Kezer III, the last private stage before finalists face the Select Board in public. Kezer retires Dec. 31.
Select Board member Erin Noonan, who chairs the committee, told Marblehead Weekly News about 15 applicants were under consideration after she set aside one response she described as spam. The committee had selected a group from that pool for confidential screening interviews; the report did not say how many.
The committee’s other members are Select Board member Jim Zisson, former Select Board member Jim Nye, Police Chief Dennis King and Finance Committee Chair Molly Teets.
Three closed sessions scheduled
The town’s posted agendas lay out the committee’s sequence. It met remotely Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. to elect a chair, review its charge and set future dates. Its Oct. 13 agenda called for reviewing interview questions at 6 p.m. before an executive session.
Agendas for sessions Oct. 16 at 1 p.m., Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m., all in the town administrator’s office at Abbot Hall, list an executive session under Chapter 30A, Section 21(a)(8) of the state Open Meeting Law to consider applicants for employment. Each notice states the committee would not return to open session.
Select Board members have said the committee approved its interview questions in public and reviewed résumés in executive session. Screening interviews remain confidential to protect applicants’ current jobs and privacy.
The committee expected to decide by the night of Oct. 20 which candidates to advance and hoped to give the Select Board at least three finalists. The town has posted no minutes from those sessions, no additional screening meetings and no Select Board agenda naming finalists.
Finalists go public
Under the process Noonan described, candidates’ names become public only when they advance to the Select Board, which will interview finalists in open session and make the appointment.
The Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston is running the recruitment. The Finance Committee voted in August to move $16,000 from its reserve fund to pay for the center’s work on the search, contingent on Select Board approval, the Independent reported Aug. 14.
The Select Board approved the recruitment profile Sept. 9, and résumé review began Oct. 8. The profile calls for a bachelor’s degree in public administration, government or a related field and five to seven years of municipal management experience, with a master’s degree preferred. The anticipated starting salary is $200,000 to $215,000, depending on qualifications.
The profile seeks a consensus builder who can work with Marblehead’s many independently elected boards, strengthen communication with residents and help deploy the $15 million operating override voters approved in June, which phases in from fiscal 2027 through 2029. It notes reserves entered fiscal 2027 at about 2 percent of budgeted expenditures, below the town’s 5 percent goal.
The calendar leaves little slack. In June, Select Board Chair Dan Fox said the board might need to hire by October so a candidate employed elsewhere would have time to give notice, the Independent reported.
The next public step is a Select Board agenda that names the finalists and sets the date for their interviews. The town’s meeting calendar had listed no such session.
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