From moore228@comcast.net Mon Feb 6 15:26:15 2006 Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 15:25:58 -0500 (EST) From: Bob Moore To: Framingham Neighbors Subject: [frambors] moore col 2/6/6 [ After but the briefest wisp of time, I'd like to welcome Bob Moore back. Thanks Bob. steveo ] Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey's request this weekend to be named interim town manager may be just the jar the this disorganized Board of Selectmen needs to get moving in naming a manager to be in charge for now and perhaps for many years. Since Manager George King left nearly a month ago, the board thought it had Assistant Town Manager Mark Purple filling in until a full-time manager could be named. But, unexpectedly Purple signed a $98,000 contract with Ashland and failed to inform the board. When Purple then took some vacation time before leaving for Ashland by Feb. 17, a little more than a week away. It left the board split on how to pick his successor for the months it is expected to take before picking King's successor. No one is in charge. Board Chair Katie Murphy favors looking elsewhere for a person qualified. Selectman Charlie Sisitsky agrees and Selectmen Ginger Esty and Dennis Giombetti think the pieces could be picked up more easily by looking within. While workers are fulfilling their duties, Mulvey believes more could be accomplished if someone in authority were running operations. There is still the budget unknown at "budget time" and several weeks have passed without a decision on the badly-split board. Tomorrow night's board meeting may bring this to a hear. Murphy is firm on deciding on how this will be done. But insists the choice remains in her hands. That has not set well with the board. Even her staunch ally, Sisitsky chided two weeks ago when she refused to name "a former manager" interested in the job. "You could have at least brought in his name," Sisitsky said. Murphy's interpretation of her powers as chair include the right to withhold names or bring in anyone interested "next week". And so the time has passed with a headless management team. Murphy says the latest prospect is she wants to interview the town administrator in Tyngsboro [population 11.000] who has expressed an interested. He'll show up Tuesday night for her to interview. Hold on a minute. Murphy's latest decision hasn't set well in a town still looking for an insight into a FY-07 budget. Planning Board Administrator Jay Grande informed selectmen a week ago that his letter seeking the interim job had gone unanswered by Murphy. Of course, she said in another interpretation of her role as chair : Grande had written only to her, not the whole board. One insight into Mulvey's weekend request for the job : Mulvey took no chances; she wrote her request to all five selectmen. Murphy has not acknowledged it yet, but Chair Murphy says she's interested in what the man from Tyngsboro has to say. Mulvey did add, in a talk with me, that she favored CFO Mary Ellen Kelly's suggestion that all department heads should be called in to give detailed estimates of their current needs, as a tool in sizing up the new budget that's somewhere "back there." Kelly, King's last appointee, has received compliments on her work thus far. I bring this state of affairs, strange as they may seem when out in the open, because town business tends to be a casual thing. Events get public notice singly. Mentioned once, they are left unreported for days. Connections are lost. We are in the midst of a two-year campaign to elect a board united in directing town business; a step away from a condition where the manager decided and the board fell in line under King. Considerable support seems evident and voting to restore the board's role as decision-maker is in progress. Last April John Stasik and Giombetti were elected as part of the drive for this change. Murphy, a victor by 31 votes, three years ago. Her management style is considered by many a means of maintaining the status quo, retaining the King Era, a most conservative position. The April 7 election may speak more plainly. ___________________________ You can reach Bob Moore at moore228@comcast.net or at 1-508-620-1449. To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@syslang.net with body unsubscribe frambors (the subject is ignored). Please read the Frequently Asked Questions maintained online at http://frambors.syslang.net/faq/about.html before posting or replying.