2026-10-08 - Board of Selectmen

Oops, I can't read that. That's an email. Good evening. Welcome to the October 8th, 2026 meeting of the board of selectmen. This meeting is being recorded and streamed by Milbury public access cable

television available live on public access channels data 191 or Verizon 26. This meeting is also available through Zoom US download or by phone. Anyone who is participating through Zoom US download or

by phone should state their name and address when speaking. Would you join me for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. I just have a few housekeeping to get through first. Okay. First one is new business. one vote on Mark

Marollus's appointment as acting town manager and approve his revised contract. So what happened? He is not an interim town manager. He is an acting. So we had to change all the words. That's all >>

right. >> Everybody okay? I I need a motion and we have to go through the whole good thing again. I'll make a motion to revise Mark Hollis's uh appointment to acting town manager. >> I'll second. >>

All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Vote to authorize a 5-year contract with Tradition Energy for natural gas supply to town buildings. Do you want to just explain? >> Sure. So, at last meeting, you all had

asked me to kind of come back with three quotes instead of just presenting that one quote from Direct Energy. Um, we've done that. Direct Energy is uh still the low bidder um if you will. Um so what

uh Traditional Energy is suggesting we do is enter into a four-year contract with them. Um so all the uh the backup is in your packet here. That's what we have. >> I'm prepared to make a motion if

everybody's all set. >> And I uh I took a look through and thank you for doing that. It looks like we actually got a even >> um which is good. One thing I do want to mention is we should continue

forward with the search. So I think we should pursue this contract. I did do a little research and I found it's ENE56. It's a state-run program. Um basically municipalities buy into it um or go into

it together and it's a state-run program to procure natural gas. Uh so they just signed a contract November 25 through October of 29 at I was I believe 8.2 a decorum so substantially lower given a

year ago. Um, but I think it's worth pursuing to see if it's something that in the future we can enter into. Um, it's probably even worth looking at. Okay, you know, if we are able to enter this,

what's the price? Because if they come back at 9 and change, maybe it's it's worth looking at getting out of this contract, right? Um, so I just wanted to mention that so that we can uh, you know,

keep our eyes and ears open for the the best natural gas provider for the town. Okay, I'll make a motion. Uh, I'll move that the board of selectment authorize the town manager to execute a four-year

contract with direct energy business for natural gas supply to the town and school as recommended by Tradition Energy, the town's energy advisor and pursuant to the authority granted under article 11

of the 2026 annual town meeting. >> So, that's not a fiveyear, >> it's a four. We got a better deal than a four year. which falls in line closer with what Singur was saying as well. >> Sorry. >> All

in favor? >> I Okay. >> Vote to approve Green Community's competitive grant application and authorize execution of certificate of application. Um so tomorrow we'll be applying um for $500,000 building

decarbonization grant through the green communities program. um as that the board is the CEO of the town. So the board is the one that needs to sign that application. Um so I'm asking you all of you

to authorize Mary to sign as as the board. >> I'll make a motion. Oh, sorry. Does anyone want to be >> No, I mean we're a part of the green community. So >> if we're not if we're not applying for

grants and what's the purpose pointless? I'll make a motion to approve the green community's competitive grant application and authorize the execution of the certificate uh certification of

application. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Review and sign the warrant for the November 3rd, 2026 state election. We don't have to vote on this, right? We should just vote in >> I think

you do have to vote. Yeah, >> I have it right here if anybody wants to take a >> Yeah, if I could just I can't find it in one drive. >> It's just a list of the uh running. >> Yeah. And then all the

questions. Okay. Yeah, it's this is a state so it's standard. >> Do you want to look at it? Anybody want to make a motion? >> Yeah, I'll make a motion to uh approve the warrant for the November 3rd,

2026 state election. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I >> Okay, that's unanimous. All right, we're going to sign these so Mark can leave. And while we're doing that, I'll call up Ron Marro,

chairman of the search town manager search committee. >> Good evening, board members. Good evening, acting town manager. Ron Marorrow, 28 Wilson Road, Milbury, Mass. I'm here before you with the uh

chairman of the uh Milby Town Manager search committee. Uh along with myself, I have uh Rich Hamilton, Judy O' Conor, Jenny Pickkins, it's also in the audience. So at task, please find the cover

letters and resumes of the three finalists recommended for interview on the select board on July 29th, 2026. Grow White Consultant distributed the initial recruitment solicitation to approximately 400

prospective candidates. Advertisements for the position were placed on the Mass Municipal Association, International City County Management Association and Women in Public Management job websites and

were also posted on Indeed, Lincoln and other municipal management publication with regional distribution. A second solicitation was sent out approximately three weeks later. The consultant made every

effort to inform the potential candidates about the Millry Town Manager position by reaching out to many qualified candidates in the area and beyond. After careful consideration and deliberation, we

recommend that the select board consider the following candidates as finalists. Thomas Bean, Northbridge, Mass. Jeffrey Bridges, Saltridge, Mass. Eric Duffy Habra Hill Mass. The list of the

recommended finalists consists of three solid high performance professionals. Each has an experience as a senior level municipal manager and as as a leader. Each is and has been a successful performer

in their current community and each is well regarded in the field. We believe each is ascendant in the profession and will be committed to the Milbury select board professional staff. We believe they

will offer the board a range of experience, professional success, and skill sets. We feel that any one of these candidates will serve Milbury well. It has been a privilege to serve on a search

committee. It was a hardworking, cohesive, and collaborative group. I feel fortunate to have worked with dedicated members Terry Bernard, John Kamuso, Rich Hamilton, Mary Crums, Judy O' Conor, Jenny

Pickkins, Mike Taber, and Greg Meyers. And on behalf of the search committee, we wish you the best of luck in the final phase of this search. And good luck tonight. >> Thank you. >> You got three good

finalists. Thank you. All right. So Nick and I had asked the same question. So >> yeah, I just ask my one because >> Hi Tom. >> Okay. The first candidate is Thomas. Don't make sure to meet you. All

right. So, we're gonna go through this again. Sure. Um, I still want you to tell a little bit about yourself. We'll start it that way maybe because I one of us asked the same two of us asked the same

question. So, I'll just ask that that you fill us in on a little bit. >> Sure. Sure. So, um, as you know, my name is Tom Beijen. Uh, I live in Northridge. Currently I'm the deputy town manager in the

town of Actton. Uh a position I've held as deputy for about a year. Prior to that I was the assistant town manager for um two years and then before that I worked in a number of different leadership

roles in the city of Framingham. Um currently my responsibilities in Actton are uh oversight of a number of different departments. I support the town manager and the select board in development of the

uh upcoming budget. So this year would be a FI28 of course and the management of prior year budgets and the development of our 10-year capital plan on an annual basis, presentations and then

execution. Uh one of my large focuses are on uh project management. There's a number of projects that we're working on throughout the community that are focused on buildings, focus on infrastructure.

So that's a big responsibility of mine as well. um community outreach throughout the process is a focus that we take and something that I'm charged with as uh part of the project team um on a daily

basis. Uh before that I worked in Frammingham in a number of different roles as the deputy I'm sorry the deputy director in uh the parks and recreation department and then as the assistant director in

the school department for buildings and grounds and that gave me a great opportunity to fully uh learn more about the schools and also entrench myself in town operations. Um I feel uh ready and

excited to be here tonight and happy to answer any questions. >> Okay, Brian, are those your questions? for us, too. >> All right, then. All right. Well, we'll follow the script. Yeah, >> we'll follow

the script. >> Perfect. >> So, Tom, I wanted to do something just a little different. I wanted to do scenarios for you instead of just regular questions. So, bear with me. I'll try I'll reread it

again if you want. Okay. >> Okay. >> It's Friday at 4:30 p.m. You receive information about a potentially serious town issue, but the information isn't verified. If true, the board needs to know. If

false, you can unnecessarily create a major problem. What do you do between 4:30 and 6 pm? >> Uh the first thing I would do is have a full understanding of what the situation is from the person who's

made me aware of that. I would ask a number of questions focused around the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Uh from there, I would assume or expect to have a list of other individuals, groups

that are involved in this situation. And then it's a factf finding mission. I would spend the next half hour, hour, hour and a half in this scenario gathering as much information as I can. And while

I'm gathering that information, I'm trying to understand where this falls. What bucket? Is it a public safety issue where police and fire need to be notified immediately? Is it a liability issue where

town council needs to be involved? Is it a personnel issue, budgetary, financial issue? Whatever it is, that'll give me my direction I need to go at least in the immediate. Um, assuming in this

situation that the information I'm getting um affirms that it is a a true and serious situation, I would then start to build the communication to the five of you and prepare a message by 6 p.m. in

this uh example that gave you the full idea of what I know. So, it's when I found out about this situation, what the situation is, what I've done since I found out about the situation, and what the

next steps are, both from me and the other people who were involved in this. And I would be direct with you. If I don't know everything, I want you to know that. But my key piece in this is

communicating to you clearly and effectively. So, at 6:30 on a Friday, if you go out and you're approached by a resident who heard about this, you're knowledgeable about it. you know what's going on

and you're ready to say we're dealing with it and these are the things the town manager is looking into. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next scenario. Two department heads who both report

to you have a deteriorating deteriorating relationship and it's beginning to affect employees and town services. Both privately tell you the other person is the problem. How do you handle it? >>

That's tough. Um, so if it's starting to affect operations and staff members in both departments and town hall and residents, that's now a management issue that I need to step in and deal with. So my

first step would be um pulling both department heads aside in a one-on-one meeting and getting their side of the story and having a better understanding of where the conflict comes in both of their

point of views, what's driving the conflict, and how each feels we can find a resolution. Um, and then since it has been affecting staff in town hall and different departments, I would want to discuss

it with them to have an idea of how it's impacting them, uh, their opinions and how it started and any recommendations that they have that could find a solution to the issue. Once I have all that

information, I would meet with the department heads uh as a group and I would be very clear um reinforcing the expectations of department heads, creating a professional environment uh reiterating that

there may be conflicts outside of you here, but when you step in to the doors, we are here to lead the community. We're here to provide um professional and um welcoming atmosphere for staff and for

residents. and uh I'm here to support you, but I'm also here to provide expectations to you. That that's what we provide to our staff and our residents. So, I would hope that that would um solve the

issue, but if it didn't and it continued to escalate with one or both, then I would have to hold both of them accountable. And on the flip side, because I want to make sure that this also has a

positive twist, that if they do resolve their issues and everything settles down, I also want to acknowledge that. So, I would want to make sure that I'm telling them how proud I am that they've been

able to overcome their difficulties and differences and I'd want to acknowledge the efforts that they've made, too. >> Thank you, Tom. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so I'm going to skip that question. How

will the town of Milbury Milbury benefit from you as a town manager? I believe over the last 15 years of my career um I have had the opportunity to have a round a well-rounded experience starting in

the select board office and then moving to planning and parks and recreation in the schools. I've been part of a charter change where we've gone from a town to a city. So I've seen the importance of

um solidifying the charter and showing the importance of the city government and why we turned into it. Um, so those things, but also my managerial skills. I've been able to develop staff members.

I've created positive working environments and all my stops. Um, I've also had a lot of experience in budget development, forecasting, creation of 10ear and 20-year capital plans both on the school

side and the town side. Uh, as well as now as a deputy town manager. Um, and I live in the area, so I understand the challenges of a smaller town that there's budgetary constraints, there's revenue

constraints. So, I understand that. I've sat on select board um in a neighboring community. We face the same challenges. I've been in meetings in Actton where we've talked about budgetary challenges.

So, I've I've been involved with those. So, I think here and I believe here you'd be getting someone who brings all this experience and all this knowledge and the ability to put it into action and the

desire to put it into action to Milbury. >> Thank you. I am going to ask my silly question that I asked you during the search. Um, are you going to be a woolly or a rim? >> Well, I'll be a woolly. A

woolly ram. >> Yeah. So, I grew up in Sutton and so when Sutton plays Milbury and benefit to the two gentlemen that work in Sutton, >> it's a win-win for me and the team. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.

Okay, >> I'm up. >> Nice to meet you. Um, how long has it taken to negotiate union contracts in your present position and explain your collective collective bargaining strategy and approach? >> Sure.

Um, in my current position within the last year or two, we've come to terms with all unions, and that's two police unions, an officer and a superior dispatch, um, fire department and DPW. And all of

those had different complexities. Our fire department union um we made major changes in the collective bargaining agreement. We made changes to some of the positions that were bargained in. We created

a fire prevention officer. We revamped how they're compensated. We um introduced an operational uh deployment study into the collective bargaining agreement um that we're currently uh in the middle

of. So that one took a little bit longer. That one took a better half of a year. uh DPW and facilities were a little bit easier in terms of length of time because it was um primarily focused on

financial compensation increases. Uh dispatch was about a 6 to 8month process, but that was matching up schedules and um police superiors were pretty quick and officers were within that 6 to 8month

time frame. Um, my approach to collective bargaining, I'm a firm believer that bargaining doesn't begin right at the table. Bargaining begins with the relationships that you develop with union

members. So, the approach I took in Framingham and in Actton, uh, is to de develop those relationships. So, when you sit across the table from a union negotiating team, it's not the first time they're

meeting you. You understand they understand you, you understand them, and uh, sitting back and listening, listening more than you do than you talk in the first round. having a full understanding of

their proposals and the reasons behind it and then going back and doing the work getting prepared and if it's uh monetarily focused if it's focused on salaries and there's restraints clearly relaying

that to union members that these are the reasons why we can or we can't meet your requests I believe that a bargaining um session is a collaboration between the union and the town and that's how I've

always approached it um whether it's in actton or in frame Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have the next one. Okay. >> How will you spend your first six months in Milbury? Explain what your

strategy will be and how you will plan on implementing it. And please provide thoughtful details um while remaining as concise as humanly possible. >> Sure. Um the first six months I think right out

of the gate I'm going to be focused on the budget development on FY28 on the capital budget um and starting to develop what this looks like. Uh I I would be coming in kind of a little bit behind the

A-ball um in terms of being part of the process. So I'd want to sit with the people who have been involved, understand what they're looking at in yourselves, understand what the priorities of the

board are, finance committee, department heads, the community school committee um and then start to become heavily involved in that process. So that would be immediate um within the first couple of

days. Another piece for me stepping into this role is getting to build relationships with the five of you, understanding your reasons why you're select board members, why you're looking or what you're

looking to improve in the community, your goals for the next year. I was able to find um FY26 goals, but not 27. So, I'm hoping that if there's an opportunity to assist you in developing those, I

would be able to do that within the first six months. And as part of building relationships with you, I would want to define what the communication process would be with you all. You may have

different preferences, so I'd want to learn those and then start to implement those. Same goes with department heads. I would go around the building immediately on day one, introduce myself, but

that's not the last time that staff or department heads would see me. I would be visible. Um, I would start one-on-one meetings with department heads to have a greater idea of what they're working

with. And to remain accessible, I would set up monthly meetings with all department heads which may be in place. I would if it was in place, I would keep those going. And in those meetings, it would

allow us all to talk through issues whether we're facing challenges in the FY28 budget, we're facing capital projection or capital challenges both in 28 and future years or there's operational

challenges one department faces. Those meetings are a great opportunity for cross collaboration and that's something I would want to install uh in the first couple of months here too. Um meeting with

the finance committee having an understanding of what their preferences and their goals are with the upcoming budget and for future budgets looking at potential forecasting for a three to fiveyear

model and having an idea of what has been done and what we can do um into the future. Uh another piece of this would be getting involved in the community, meeting people, meeting board members. I was

lucky enough to meet uh I think 10 or 11 at the uh screening interviews. Um and I would want to continue that. I wouldn't want that to be the only time that people know me from that meeting. Uh so

within the first six months, I would also listen. I would listen again more than I talk, which I feel like I'm talking a lot now, but I would listen a lot more than uh I would talk and have an

understanding of people's goals and priorities in town hall and outside of town hall. and then I would start establishing some tangible goals that I can bring to you and I can present to you and then

we can work together uh on achieving those. So it's it's a busy six months but it's a really exciting six months. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. Can you provide three examples of employees that you

have mentored, helped learn and grow and have seen success either in taking on more responsibilities, receiving a promotion or growing into another highle opportunity? >> Sure. So before I I give

examples, I do want to say that the way that I approach mentorship is I'm one of many. I would never say that these three people are examples. Um I was their sole mentor. Um much like myself, I have

many mentors and and I look at mentorship as being one of many. So the the three people that I would give for an example. Um one was someone who I coached in football uh when I first started in

Framingham, uh the chair of the select board asked me to join uh his team coaching and I did and he was an eighth grader. And I guess I'm aging myself a little bit because I watched him graduate high

school. I watched him graduate college. And I grew a real I developed a relationship with his family and with him. And through that relationship, I got to understand what he wanted to do in his

profession, what he wanted to develop into, and what his future goals were. And they were in the recreation field. So when he went to college, we started talking about what that looks like and things

that he could do at college and volunteering and and part-time jobs in the summer to um to start building towards that. So he joined the recreation department as a seasonal staff member and then would

go back to school. And when a position opened up with the recreation team as a programming coordinator, uh he jumped at it and he ended up getting it. And that gave me another opportunity to work more

closely with him as he worked in one of our divisions. So, I was able to meet with him and talk through some of his future goals and development. And I'm pretty proud to say that he's still in the

position. He's been doing a fantastic job in Framingham. And um we stay in contact every so often, but it's great to see uh that he's doing great things there. Um a second example would be a former

operations manager in Framingham who joined and right before COVID and when he joined, you know, normally you sit down, you talk about their goals, people's goals. um what their hope is for their

future career and he said he wanted to become either an athletic director or director of parks and recreation. So we talked about what that would look like and how to get there and over the next few

years we I started bringing him in on capital conversations on operational challenges, budget management and uh development personnel management and he got to learn a little bit more from me but he

also got to learn a little bit more from the other department heads inside the division. uh he's now a director um in a town in the Southshore and like I said before there's many people that played a

role in that but I like to think I played a small role um in that and a third example would be uh my custodial services manager when I was in Framingham when I moved to the buildings and ground side

he had expressed to me again wanting to move up eventually and become a director and assistant director whatever that looks like so I did the same thing I brought him in he was very operationally

focused and that was just the field that he was focused on and the experience he had. So I started bringing him in on routine budget meetings with the staff, started talking about how we develop the

next year's budget, how we close out the prior year, how we start to plan expenses for uh upcoming projects and then started bringing him in on project management and then talking through some

operational challenges that he may not see because it's happening in a different office. So he is now um a director of buildings and grounds on the southshore as well and we've stayed in contact every

so often and he got his master's degree and really really achieved that position through the hard work. So those are three examples that um of people who I've played one role whether it's a large role

or small role um that they've all gone on to do pretty impressive things. >> Thank you. I appreciate it >> Mike. >> All right. uh provide us with a general assessment of Milbury's financial condition.

Did recent town meeting actions help or hurt her? What steps would you take as town manager to address what you've seen? >> Sure. I'm just going to make a quick note. >> Um so I would categorize the

current financial condition of Milbury as similar to a lot of communities in the Commonwealth. you're faced with rising costs across the board, whether it be personnel, health insurance, health

insurance. I think from Maya, their latest production is anywhere from a 7 to 12% increase over prior year. So, that that's a big hit um to any community. Uh debt service is a big piece of the puzzle

as well and um retirement benefits, whether it's pension or OPE. So, Milbury, you're we're facing or you're facing a lot of the similar issues throughout the Commonwealth. Uh, one step that you've

recently taken that I saw as part of a goal for the prior town manager was to move away from the reliance on free cash to fund a portion of the operations. And looking at your revenues for 27, it

looks like you've done that. That's that's a big move. Um, and it will help short-term and long-term financial strength. Uh, upcoming years, every community is constrained by the Prop 2 and a half

limitations. So, we have to become more nimble and more creative in how we fund operations and how we imagine operations. Uh I find that Milbury is similar to other communities in that aspect too. Um

from sorry the I can't read my my writing here. What was the second part? It was conditions. >> Um what steps would you take to address what you've seen? >> Thank you. Sorry about that. Um the steps

that I would take is start to develop a three to fiveyear financial model. And the purpose of that would be to give finance committee yourselves, myself and department heads a realistic idea of what

we're looking at both current year future years and then start to plan around that. There's a lot of rising increases and revenues are are stale to a degree. So the more information that we can

provide to department heads to your yourselves finance committee and the community uh earlier the better and that would also inform some of our decisions our decisions in the short term whether we're

bringing in new positions or we're looking at reimagining some operations or we're looking at grants uh how we fund capital projects short and long term. I did see that there is some debt that's

falling off in 2930. So if we have some borrowing that's coming up trying to align that with that debt coming off so we're not increasing our debt service. Um but that forecast would help um would

help guide us in both 28, 29, 30 and beyond. So that's one step I would take. Uh another step I would take is looking at some of the special funds. I believe two town meetings ago the building

inspection uh revolving fund was created as well as a couple of other ones. I would want to have a better understanding of what those provide in terms of offsetting operational expenses and see if

there's more capacity to shift some of the operating expenses to those funds like the sewer um the sewer fund, the enterprise fund. I saw that it helps cover the cost of some of the debt service. What

are the other areas of opportunity to utilize that fund to offset municipal uh operations? So, those are the steps that I would take. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, reflecting on your

research, what are the most critical issues facing the town right now? >> I think the the one thing, and I've mentioned this before, but it's Prop 2 and a half and the constraints on revenues. So, one

thing that I would be focused on is identifying areas for potential revenue increases, whether it's through economic development, um, additional opportunities to generate revenue through fees that are

already in place or areas where a fee could be charged that isn't necessarily being charged now. Um, those are challenges that are not unique, of course, to Milbury, but very much something that we

have to deal with here. Uh, another challenge that I see is the what to do with the fire department operations. Um, I understand that a charter question was put on hold. There's still a desire to

fully understand what the fire department looks like into the future. And in actton, I'm part of um a group. I think I mentioned it before. We're doing a fire operational deployment study that's been

going on for a period of time. And we looked at current operations were four stations. Then we looked at a three-station model and a two-station model. And some of the key drivers for us looking at

that were um concerns with morale and we wanted to maintain uh call response rates for any type of model that we operated in and the difficulty of recruitment. So for that we did a study. We're

working with the Collins Center on finalizing it. But we've been able to take surveys of the community and surveys of staff and have a better understanding of how it's positively impacted morale in

the different um different uh phases whether it's a three or two station model and how it's positively impacted the community too. So I would take those experiences and bring them here to Milbury when

we're looking at uh the question with what to do long-term for fire department operations. >> And then so you touch on revenue a lot, generating revenue. What are your thoughts on getting to a point

where you don't have to utilize the full prompt two and a half and increase taxes that two and a half%. >> That'll take a lot of work. Um not saying anything's not possible. That'll take a lot of work

and a lot of alternative funding. Uh whether that's through special funds that I mentioned before or it's through um grants that could help offset operational expenses, programs, initiatives. Um if we

take an approach of reducing capital expenditures once the bonds start to fall off, uh that would help lower our um annual budget. I think that without really looking much deeper into Milbur's budget

or having a long-term um financial forecast, I wouldn't be able to say exactly how we get there, but I would be dedicated to working towards figuring out if it's a possibility. >> Oh, perfect. And

this one's fun. I won't hammer you with any more finance questions, >> but we haven't touched on it yet. I think it's important. So, what what do you do personally for fun? Like, what's your passion?

If you if you never had to work a day in your life, what would you go out and do? >> I would, that was a good question. Um, I'm a big runner, so I would run every morning. These jobs are stressful.

Your jobs select board members are stressful. deputy town manager. Town manager is stressful. So, I try to carve out an hour or two each morning and usually it's between 3:30 and 4. And I get up and

that's my time. I run, I bike. I know it's the only way I can find time. Um, but after a little bit, uh, you grow into it. So, it's that's what I do for fun. Uh, my wife and I, we have two dogs, so I

enjoy hiking with her and our dogs. um she started a business a few years ago, so it's been a real treat of watching her uh develop it and be able to help her on the weekends when I have available

time. So, um I've been lucky enough to be able to do these things to decompress and to relax and uh 3:30 is early, but it's so quiet. It's so peaceful. So, I highly recommend it if you're interested

in doing something like that. >> Oh, awesome. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Okay, Brian, >> thank you for taking the time to be with us and showing your interest in our town. I have two for you. One

being, and I'm going to ask a cliche question, but what would you say is your top strength, your top weakness, and most importantly on it, how would you say you've grown as a manager? >> Sure. Um,

I'll start with weakness. Uh I would say that my two areas of weakness would be um economic development and uh it would be more concise and clear presentations. And to give a little bit of background

about that, I haven't had a ton of experience with economic development as you see by my resume. But what I've done is taken the steps to learn more about economic development. We have a fantastic

team in Actton that's achieved some pretty neat things through bylaw changes and through business connections in the community and starting to build up um relationships with area businesses. So I've

been able to watch from the sidelines, be an active member and also ask questions. Uh one of the things that the planning department um proposed and had approved through the zoning bylaw were changes

to some things that businesses had given feedback were challenges. signed by law. Uh the length of time that it took for approvals and through some creative zoning changes and proposals that was able

to be passed at town meeting to support businesses. So those are the things that I've tried to expose myself to learn more. Um I've taken MMA courses when they're offered and ICMA courses to learn

more about economic development. So I'm trying to uh improve in that area, but as you see from my resume, it's just not something that I've had a ton of experience with. And when I say a clear and

concise presentations, early in my career, I was focused on giving the full picture. And I learned quickly that's too much information sometimes. Sometimes the best information is who, what, when,

where, why, and how, and very concise. So over the years, I've started to develop a tighter presentation process. And uh more recently, I I believe it worked really well uh for our town hall HVAC and

emergency power present or project. We built the presentation. It's a very complex project. So we built a presentation as a group and I gave it to the select board and it was focused on the current

conditions, what we're doing to improve it, financial costs from a bond standpoint and financial costs from an annual uh operation budget standpoint and then what we're looking for action. and it was

clear, it was concise, it was direct and it was fully supported. And then uh it was presented at town meeting by a select board member and it was fully um supported. So I've taken steps over my career

to to better present in a more clear and concise way. And I don't think I'm a master at it. I don't think I'm a master really at anything. So I'm going to continue working at it. And that those are

two areas that I would point out um that I need to improve on that I'll continue improving on. And two areas that I'm strong and I have a good uh strength in would be capital planning and execution.

Uh I have experience with 10 year and 20-year capital plans um from Framingham and from Actton and then taking that information and putting it into documents that can be easily digested by the

community and it tells a story behind the project. So I feel that that's a strength of mine and personnel management and and relationship building. I feel that every place I've been a director or um a

supervisor or had a managerial role, I've created an environment that's been supportive um positive um naturally just a positive person and it's created uh collaborative atmospheres where people want

to work together as a team. They want to be direct. They want to be part of the process. So those are two areas that I believe are strengths of mine as well. >> Great. Thank you. And um my second

question would just be, you know, this board's comprised of five different members with five very different points of view. You also have your own belief system. You have members of the town that are

definitely going to be voicing their interest to you and members of the administration, the the town employees themselves. And there's also now in the day of social media, you have Facebook and the

gossips and the groups, you know, the chitchat that happens on on town group. So my question for you is, you know, how How do how have you or how do you plan to navigate the multiple different

opinions and inputs from the people around you while still also balancing your own input and your own belief system in your actions as town manager? >> Sure. One approach that I'd take and I would

take here is for an example with the five of you um understanding what your opinions are and what your beliefs are and what your goals are and if there are five different focuses there's some

similarities there there's some commonalities so I would work to better understand where your points of view are and what your goals are and then try to find some similarities to try to build a

consensus and then come to the group and say hey did you all know that you're focused on And that's an approach that I've taken in departments that I've worked with, towns that I've worked with,

boards and committees that I've worked with and continue to work with where where there's differing opinions, there's always something that's similar. That one thing that we want done as a group, but

we just have a different idea of how to get there. Having everybody voice those opinions, having everybody fully express how they feel and what they want to see done, and somewhere in there, there's a

commonality. And I would focus on that, and I would build a consensus. For me, um, my goal is to just achieve what the ultimate goal is that's set forward by a board, a group of department heads or a

community. Um, I would act as an adviser. I would act as a collaborator. And I would have the opportunity to be able to see all the moving pieces and say, well, did you know about this? And then start

to guide people to hopefully a collective decision. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Those are my questions. Okay. Do you have any questions for us? I I'll let you because we're way

ahead of schedule now. >> Uh I I don't have any questions. Um but I really appreciate this process. This has been a really uh enjoyable process from the search committee interviews to sitting here

with the five of you. Uh I've watched a few of your meetings over the last few months and I can see how dedicated you all are, but also how you work together. Um there was a lot of laughs in the

screening interview and it was great to see I walked away from that saying that's that's reflective of the community and it's wonderful to see how easygoing but professional that atmosphere was and I

see it here too. So this is an exciting atmosphere and one that I feel fits my skills, my abilities, my experience and my philosophy on management and uh I just appreciate the opportunity to be here

tonight. So thank you. >> Awesome. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much. >> Nice to meet you. Great to meet you. >> Do you prefer Tom or Thomas? >> Yeah. What do you Yeah. >> Uh,

whichever one. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I answer. >> And it's Been. >> It is just like two words. >> Yeah. Fair enough. >> Perfect. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. >> Very much. >> Thanks for coming

tonight. >> Thank you very much. >> I totally appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> Great to meet you. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Hey, you too. That's funny. >> That was very good answers. Thanks, Rick. >>

Don't be afraid to ask. Okay. >> Okay. >> Good night. >> Yeah. I actually need to grab a notepad from Amy. >> Can we go into a fiveminut recess? >> I got to keep it though. I want to like in a little

booklet. >> Yeah. What's his name? >> Sorry, I called you the wrong name. Thanks, Joshua. >> You making up names for this poor guy? >> Because I called him the wrong name. >> You did? >> Yes. His name

is Max. >> I called him Alex. >> It's okay. >> I'm call. >> That's a nice name to be called, though. >> Max, right? I was on the I was I knocked on somebody's door and they go is your name. You said

neck. >> Yes. >> I didn't say neck. >> Jeff Bridges. >> Hi Jeff. >> Hi Jeff. Nick. Nice to meet you. >> Brian. Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. >> Okay. Next. candidate is Jeff Bridges and I'm

just going to ask you to tell us a little bit about yourself kind of like we did in the beginning of the search. Sure. First of all, thank you. My name is Jeff Bridges. I appreciate the opportunity

here this evening. Um you have my resume in front of you. You can see that I've literally worked from one send one end of the country to the other and it's been a terrific career. I've met a lot of

great people. I've been part of a lot of great things and and I mean that that I'm part of great things. My resume identifies certain successes uh that I've had in my career and it's all been a

product of teamwork and working with others and I believe that's the style I bring to a community is I work with others. Um I'm here today because I find this to be an interesting position. There's a

desire to have a a very fluid and stable relationship between the board and the staff to accomplish the community's goals. I think having stability in the town manager position, which I can offer, is

going to enhance that relationship and provide that that um consistent fluidity to that process. And that's what interests me about this position, including that Milberry is a great community. You got

a great downtown, uh, great access to the turnpike, economic development, um, opportunities and so forth and so on. But it really, it's the it's the goal to have that relationship between the staff

and the board to accomplish the community goals that makes it interesting from a management perspective for me. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we'll start with Brian with his questions. >> Jeff, thank you

very much for showing interest, too. Appreciate it. >> It's a scenario. Okay. >> It's Friday, 4:30 p.m., >> right? >> You receive information about a potentially serious town issue, but the

information isn't verified. If true, the board needs to know. If false, you could unnecessarily create a major problem. What do you do between 4:30 and 6 p.m., say? First thing I do is verify the the

source who's telling me what's going on. Um, if it's something on social media, I try to get hold of the department head that would be that would be applicable to and get maybe a 30 second rundown on

what's going on. The next thing I do is call the board, each one of you, and say, "Hey, this is what we're hearing. It's unsubstantiated at this point. It may be rumor. It may be conjecture." so it's

not gospel and make sure you qualify it that way and then answer whatever questions you can and then tell the board that when I have more information I will get back to you um and make sure that I get

back to you and run the issue into the into truth or fiction as fast as possible and if that takes going to somewhere or calling in people or whatever it takes uh to run down that rumor or that issue

and get the facts out to the board and the community. That's what you do between 4:30 and 6. Hopefully between 4:30 and 5, right? The sooner the better. Um, Facebook is always going to beat us to the

punch. Always. And my goal is to make sure that the board, if not the first people to be informed, at least second after Facebook. I guess that's the best we can do at this point. But yeah, definitely

call the board, keep them updated by text or email or or whatever it takes to to make sure you're in the know. >> Another scenario, two department heads who both report to you have a deteriorating

relationship. It's beginning to affect employees and town services. Both privately tell you the other person's the problem. How do you handle that? >> Well, if it's affecting town services and the

employees, it's it's both their problems. Um you and I've worked with that situation many times and it depends. Is it a personal issue between them? Is it a professional issue between them? And you

can try to resolve those issues. Uh some people just choose to dislike other people. I can't change that. What I do have control over is how they perform their jobs. And if their animosity towards one

another is impeding the mission of the organization, that can't stand. I can try to figure it out with them. But at the end of the day, if service is being interrupted, if the employees are being

somehow mistreated or not getting what they need, it needs to be a performance issue between myself and the department heads. And I do and I say both. And at some point maybe one or both of them got

to go if it's impacting the services to that extent. I can't control how people feel. I'm concerned how people perform and performance is key. You can dislike whoever you're working with, but you have

a job to do first and foremost in in my opinion as the manager. >> Thank you. >> Okay. How will the town of Milbury Milbury benefit from you as its town admin uh town manager? Sorry. >> I think what I

bring to the table is experience and stability. Um 30 plus years of doing this in many different communities. Um almost eight now in Massachusetts. Uh and stability. If you look at my if you look at

my history, five years in going on five years in Spencer, uh 11 in Andover, almost nine in Weathersfield, I'm I'm consistent. I'm stable. I believe I can provide that consistent process to the board

and the department heads and the staff to to keep that waterhe going where it's producing every year. Um goals, outcomes, feedback, goals, outcomes, feedback. I believe I can provide that stability in

my experience in a lot of different things within municipalities. Um, from finance to school construction to not school construction, but school building projects. Um, big projects, little projects,

personnel, collective bargaining. Um, I bring that to the table. >> Okay. I got one more. >> You have one more. >> This is a I'm throwing it in >> because I can't ask you the same question I asked the

other gentlemen. >> Um because I don't know your town's mascot. But anyways, um during your interview, you mentioned that you rode a motorcycle. Um two of my colleagues over here also ride a

motorcycle. So maybe we could do a fundraiser for >> I would love >> like the senior center or something >> for anything. We could do a motorcycle fundraiser. >> I just wanted to get it out there

because I don't know if everybody heard you had said that in the interview. >> I'm on board. When do we start? >> And these two generally come to meetings on their motorcycle. >> All right. So >>

that's I'm home. Outstanding. >> Okay. >> Awesome. >> Go ahead. >> No, no, no. You're good. This is that's a fun question. This one's a hard one. >> Um, nice to meet you. Um, how long does it uh

typically take for you to negotiate union contracts in your present position? And can you explain your collective bargaining strategy and your approach? >> Um, timing, you know, the time on a bargain.

And I'm going to talk a little bit about the how long it takes, but then why it may or may not take longer than necessary. Um, it takes as long as people become reasonable, right? Whether that be

management or or the union, right? Everybody, my philosophy in a collective bargaining is everybody has to come away with something, right? the union members have to show representation to their

members and there are employees um they have lives and responsibilities and they're impacted by inflation and so forth and so on. So reasonleness and what their expectations are and what the town can

reasonably accomplish for them uh should be taken into account. the the true way to help the board expedite collective bargaining is in preparation. Right? So when I talk about that, so there's a

contract coming up, XYZ bargaining unit. Okay, so let's run some payroll numbers ahead of time. What's a 1% cost? What's a 2% cost? What are the other economics in the contract? um uniform allowances

or extra vacation time or or whatever the economics are in the contract. Get some numbers ahead of time for the board to look at before we even enter negotiations and get a feeling for what that's

going to cost and what the appetite is on the management side for understanding the economics of of a contract. So when you go into the bargaining go to the bargaining table, you already know what

what outcomes can be and what you can afford or what you're willing to agree with. So that helps on the management side uh expedite outcomes, right? So you're not going in cold and then you get to go

back and out calculate things and everything else. So, if you prepare at least on the economics and maybe some on the non-econ non-economics issue, if you've had some grievances ahead of time and

you're looking at some language, maybe the board understands the different languages, you may be offering to alleviate some of these things. But if you prepare and really take into uh consideration a

lot of these things ahead of time, it helps expedite the outcomes. So, the board's talking to someone that understands what they're talking about, what they're able to talk about when they're able to

come to a deal. Uh, so that helps quite a bit. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Um, how will your how will you spend your first six months in Milbury? Explain your strategy and what it will be, how

you you will plan to implement. um and try to provide as many details as possible while remaining as humanly concise as also possible. >> Well, it sounds like I'm gonna spend the first six months on a

motorcycle. So, >> sounds like a motorcycle is our future. >> Uh no, actually my if if I'm if I'm uh selected and we come to an agreement, which I hope um I'm going to start before I start. I think

one of the first things I want to do is meet individually with the board members. uh establish a relationship, understand how you like to communicate, understand your goals uh for the community, um

understand uh what you want to accomplish as an individual board member as your time on the board of selectmen. I find it disheartening when I talk to elected officials that I've worked with, they

say, "Well, I spent four years on the board or five years or whatever it is, and I never really felt as though I did anything." That to me is unfortunate. You're volunteering your time. Uh you're

taking the hits. you're spending your your resources. You should feel as though you've accomplished something during your time, right? And I want to help the elected officials do that, not only as a

group, but as an individual board member. I think that's important. People willing to run for these jobs should feel as though there's a there's something that they accomplished for their community on

the on the back end when they're when they're done with their service. So, that's beforehand. Um so starting off meet the department heads first week. Uh I usually in spend some time the first week

meeting the department heads not only here in a group setting and understand how their dynamics are amongst them amongst the other department heads and direct reports but I want to visit them where

they work. I want to see their facilities. I want to see how their shop operates. And that's all within the first two to three weeks. uh meet the staff throughout the building. Uh set up understanding

when different committees are going to meet and go to those committee meetings. I'm very involved with our volunteer boards and committees. Um get out to the school committee sooner than later. Make

sure they see a face and a name and know that I'm a partner with them in this community on on what they need to accomplish as well. Um get out to the community. I'd like to set some times up for

coffee with Jeff. It's not a very catchy thing. I got to come up with something more catchy, but in locations outside of town hall to be available to meet people because coming in here could be

intimidating for some people. Um, then there's the operational issues. What's coming up next on the board of selectment agenda? What has to happen in relation to the budget? What are we how far are we

along for the next town meeting? So you've got to create relationships in those first one to six months as well as progress the agenda. Right? So those it's a very much uh parallel system but they're

equally critical. Um so it's almost like you know it's a fire hose you you just keep running till you till you uh till you catch up and it's never really caught up. But creating those relationships in

the first couple weeks, understanding uh the environment, meaning understanding where everybody works and the condition of their facilities and and where they work and how they work and what's

available. Um getting a grasp on what each department head's priorities are after hearing what the board's priorities are. Uh, and at some point in that first one to two months, meet with the board as

a group and come up with the goals you have for the manager and for the community, right? That should happen sooner than later. And then we can translate that or transmit that to the staff and get

that wagon wheel going, right? Um, but yeah, so that one to six month is creating relationships, progressing the agenda, setting goals, and starting outcomes. >> Great. Thank you. Um, can you provide

a couple of examples of employees that you've mentored over the years, helped learn, grow, and have seen success in taking on more responsibilities or even receiving a promotion during your time? So,

uh, my first real what I would consider mentorship was, uh, I was an administrator and we had hired an intern who was an MPA student and they came in and they were the the intern. They did intern type

things as they were getting their MPA and they progressed and the more they worked, the more they understood, the more they understood, the more responsibility we gave them. eventually uh once they

graduated uh they were promoted or given the title was the first time that the community had ever this title but assistant to the administrator right not quite an assistant administrator but assistant

to which was it's a you know a distinction without a difference somewhat um that person did that for a couple years was very good at it um and as I was progressing out of that community that person

was elevated to uh assistant administrator and did that for a while while I was still there. And when I left the community, that person was made the administrator. So very much worked with that person

from the ground up. Uh that person was successful for several years and eventually left the profession, but um the community benefited from their service. So that was my first real mentorship. Um, so

most of the other ones, and I don't know if you'd call them true mentoring, but there's kind of two groups. One is where particularly in local government where you're struggling to find qualified

people that understand government. Those are two distinct things. um you bring in a subject matter expert to be somebody an engineer or an accountant or a finance person and they know that but they

don't know government right so you have to teach them or mentor them on government how to prepare a budget how to interact with a board how to prepare an agenda for a border committee how to prepare a

staff document for a border committee um what does all these different acronyms mean that we deal with on a day-to-day basis So you have that that technical expert that you now have to teach them

government, right? Then the other group is where you've you have someone in your organization that's a multi-person department and you promote that person and they were very good at what they did. But

now you have to teach them how to manage people, right? Which may not have been their bailey wick. and you have to teach them to do their department budget and you have to teach them how to interact

with the finance committee or board of selectment and help them gain that confidence so they can do that on a yearly basis. And I've been very successful with that. We, you know, it it's very

intimidating the first time someone has to come up and explain their budget to a board of select manure finance committee, but after you do it a couple times and you create and they create those

relationships on their own as well, it becomes a very routine process for a lot of people. And then I'm going to talk about another category and I don't and again mentorship, education, training,

elected officials. I've worked with a number of elected officials who were very new to the elected position but and didn't know much about government and would come to me and say why do we do this?

How does this work? How do we make this happen? How go from here and here and here? And you not take them under your wing, but you help them understand the bigger picture and the little details on why

things work the way they do. So during my career, I've had a number of experiences where I've helped in all three of those categories to create and empower more effective public servants. >> Thank

you. >> Go ahead, Mike. >> On to me. >> All right. Most important question, Jeff. What do you ride? >> Oh, a 2014 Harley Road King. >> All right. Hey, good answer. Good answer. You get to the next

question. >> All right. >> What do you want to go? >> What do you ride? >> Oh, be sorry. Uh, so I ride a 2012 Road Glide. >> Nice. >> Good for you. >> I I figured you two would appreciate that

question. >> Yeah. Well, you have to ask it because you know, as a Harley rider, you can only ride with Harley's, correct? So, if you had a Honda or something, I mean, that would be there's no sense

in asking any more questions, right? >> Yeah. No, not at all. >> >> H. All right, Jeff, that's enough fooling around. We'll get into it. Okay. >> All right. So, could you provide us with a a general

assessment of Milbury's financial condition? Uh, did recent town uh meeting actions help or her? And what steps would you take as a town manager to address what you've seen so far? Well, your your

2027 budget went up by 4.61%. Um, led in mostly by a 7.6% increase in your employee benefits. I notice uh that the free cash, at least on the DLS website, when you look at those charts, the free cash

is much lower than it has been in in years past. I think that's a product of two things from the warrant that I saw was your capital program and the and the snow and ice combined spent about $3

million. Um not bad or good, just is. Um you're closer to your levy limit than you have been in the in the last couple years. Um all both of those things together reduce flexibility. Um, so as you go

into 28, you're going to have to look at um how you account for that limited flexibility, right? And that's a very much a process of breaking down the expenses and breaking down the revenues to see

where you can squeeze. Now, reading the first uh the introductory page of the of the warrant, uh there's a paragraph there that talks a lot about what reductions were made and how strategically there

were cuts to the budget that really didn't change globally outcomes, but it was sufficient to match revenues and expenditures, which I thought sounded like there was a very positive process and

collaborative process to to make the budget work. Um, so one of the things going forward, again, you're going to have to make sure that your revenues and expenditures and and what your bargaining unit

agreements do and what your all these other things and a lot of it's out of your control because you don't know where state aid is going to be. Um, you don't know some of these things. You do know

that your Worcester Regional Retirement Assessment is going to be punishing, right? Because they're punishing all of us with this stuff. Um, but you're not going to have the flexibility. Uh, and

that's going to be a challenge. So, working with the school, working with the department heads, you're just going to have to figure out the wheat from the shaft and you're going to have to make

selective reductions if necessary. Now, you had positive revenue growth of 2.4 something million dollars in the FY27 budget, which is very good. You hope that your your uh new growth for next year is

also positive. You've got uh some tremendous things going on in town. So, you know, until you get to those points, uh, it's not it's not hair on fire time, right? The sky is always falling, but it

never hits the ground, right? Um, but you're going to have to really kind of squeeze the squeeze the water out of the string. Um, and pray it doesn't snow, right? That's what you do, right? Because

snow budgets are are finite. or hope that they pass another wrap funding program early enough where you can apply it to your deficit before you have town meeting and use free cash, right? Because last

year they did it after everybody had their town meetings, but said, "Oh, you can use your wrap money to pay your snow deficit." Well, happened too late for a lot of us. So hopefully if they do that

again, it's earlier in the season before town meeting where you can make that adjustment. Um, I don't have a magic crystal ball on what needs to happen other than everybody needs to work

collaboratively to make it happen. Um, in your in the warrant. Also, you asked for more liquor licenses, which you know, for some reason when people go out to eat, they like to drink, right? Um, so

that should if that happens, maybe your meal tax goes up a little bit. uh you changed the zoning in in a number of places hopefully making it uh easier to develop or more likely to develop increasing

your tax base and so forth and so on. You're making the right steps but it's so incremental on a lot of this stuff. It's uh it's tough. It's tough tough stuff. So, um, financing overall, you know,

I've read through, um, a lot of things online, your recent bond issues and the official statements that come with those and talk about your your ratings and your stability and it's it's stable, right?

Towns are stable, but there are important choices to make every year. And it's not just Milberry, it's everybody because everybody's up against the same thing. If you look at some towns in that failed

overrides, you know, some of us are benefiting, and I hate to say it, but we're picking up police officers and firefighters and other comm community from other communities that chose not to fund those

things. Um, and I think you're going to see more of that as time goes on, which is unfortunate. Um, but it's going to take teamwork. It's going to take collaboration uh to make it work. So, still on

the the topic of finances, prop two and a half, right? >> Yeah. >> What would be your outlook or what would be your strategy to try and not utilize the full 2 and a.5% increase each year? >> How would

you approach it? What are the first things you'd look at? >> Well, the first thing I'd want to know is what's the board's priorities, right? What what's your most important thing to be included in

your town budget? Right? Give me your top things and if possible, what things are you willing to live without? Right? Because if you need this to have this, somewhere down the road, there's something

that you can live without. Maybe not all of it, but a piece of it. Um maybe you want to change one priority to another. But when you develop budgets, at least from my perspective, I mean, to me,

they're incremental, right? If we did this yesterday, if we had 10 police officers yesterday, I have an expectation we're going to have 10 police officers tomorrow, right? Unless there's a different

goal or outcome desired by the governing body or the community. I think that all comes into where the goal setting is. What are your goals? What are your have to haves? What's your long-term future

ideas for the community? So establishing those early and understanding where things may be more flexible on outcomes or budgetary resources is important as we craft a budget. I don't want to give you

something that's a surprise to you. I think it's important that this be a collaborative process and there shouldn't be any surprises. So that means starting early, that means understanding your goals,

that means uh trying to get a grip on on revenues as well as expenditures and praying not praying it doesn't snow. >> So now you're you're at Spencer right now, right? >> What's driving you to make

that decision to look elsewhere? As I said, I'm interested in this position because from what I've read and and talked to Rick about, there's a there's a a very strong desire to link the staff and the

board together to create outcomes and as a professional manager that's attractive to me and I think that Milberry would be an interesting place to do that in um and I can provide the stability to make

that happen over the long term. And so from a management perspective, I'm interested in this position because it's interesting as a professional manager. >> And then I mean I think we have a little

bit of time, right? Um so I mean you seem to be very confident in your skill set, right? Rightfully so. You've got an impressive resume. >> What do you think would be your biggest hurdle that you

would have to overcome coming into this position? biggest hurdle. I think I need to develop a level of trust or not trust but relationships. I think that's always the initial challenge. Make sure you

get off on the right foot with people. Um make sure they understand I'm here as a resource and I'm here to work with them. I I like to consider people that work with me as co-workers, not

subordinates, right? Because I am my office is a resource. Um, so that would be my biggest hurdle is just making sure that I create an environment of positive relationships, right? Um, I know the

lingo. I understand what town meeting is and all these different things and what has to happen, but I don't know the people and every community is unique with its people, with its staff, with its

board, with its public and so forth and so on. So that to me is the biggest challenge is making sure I create positive relationships from day one. >> Awesome. And I'll I'll end with a fun one. So you

never had to work a day in your life. What's your what's your passion? What are your hobbies? What do you like to do outside of work? >> I I don't know. I've been doing this since I was 23. Um really

>> it's what I do outside of work. You know, I'm blessed with a with a with a wife I've been with since high school. We have two grown kids off doing their thing, and we're very blessed about that.

So, we've had an opportunity to to do those things as adults that we wish we had time and resources for as kids. So, I got my motorcycle after my daughter graduated or was in high school, right?

After, you know, whatever. Um, we like to do community events. you talk a little bit about getting to know the community. So, you know, food truck festivals and the in the in the in the farmers

markets and all those things are just great for where my wife and I go and um kayaking. We've got into kayaking. My wife also has a she's got a triglyide so we go together and my little five pound dog

rides on the back of my bike and we all go off together. So on those occasions when I don't have a meeting right now uh and it's not just Spencer, it's been other communities. I'm out three to four

nights a week. It's an expectation of the position. Um so those opportunities when we do get to be together, we make the most of it. >> Very good. Well, thank you very much. >> Thank you, >> Mr.

Bridges. Thank you. I appreciate your your interest in the role and for being with us tonight. >> Thank you. Uh my first question for you would be I'm going to ask the stereotypical question. What

would you say is your top strength, your top weakness? And how would you say over your career you've grown as a as a manager or a leader of people within? So my top strength today is my experience and

I think that's that's a cumulative impact or cumulative um benefit. My greatest weakness was as a as a we lad believing that my answer I had to come up with the answer and it had to be my answer. Um,

and as a young person and energetic and you want to be positive and you want to be productive and you want to show value, that's what I did. And I learned over time and as I worked with more and more

people who I looked up to as e experts in their particular field and dedicated employees and what they did and people that were smarter in whatever we were talking about than I am, I realized it

didn't have to be my answer. It just had to be an answer that worked for the community. And so I learned to speak less, listen more, and help facilitate those conversations rather than lead those

conversations. Now, a board's going to look to me for certain answers and certain information and so forth and so on, but I don't need to set the goals. I need to help the board set goals. I don't

need to come up with every answer, but I need to facilitate a conversation so there can be an answer. And that was very much for me a learned behavior, right? Um, so that was my weakness. I've I've

kind of tried to get through that and I I believe I have because I don't need to be the the only person in the room that has an answer. I just need to help the group in the town come up with an answer

that works. And speaking to the people that are in the room, as you know, you've worked with boards. Our boards comprised of five members and all five of us have different points of view. In any given

year, one or two of us could be replaced with two completely different points of view than the people that sat there before. You have members of the administration that you'd be working with directly

below you. You also have members of town that are definitely going to be vocal in their opinions of things as most towns do. And then you always have, like you had said earlier, Facebook getting

answers first. the entire you know uh the entire network of people in a in a town group with their opinions and the gossip that's on there. So my question for you would be >> how have you or how how

would you plan to navigate the various inputs from the people around you both the boards you know members of town um the people that are working for you while still balancing your own input and your

own belief system as town manager. >> I I worked with a gentleman in Kansas by the name of Mike Thompson. He was our town engineer and not like a town engineer I worked for the town but he was our

consulting engineer for forever and u one of the wisest people I ever met. So whenever you confronted Mike with a with a question that he wasn't prepared to answer and it was usually an engineering

question but it could have been anything. He would say well let's get a survey on that. Let's do some survey work on that. Right? And it could be that we're actually going to go survey the street to

find out what the problem is. Or it could have meant let's take a step back. let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture and see what we're really talking about here. And that stuck with me

for a long time. And that's what I like to do. So, when you're getting tons of input, right, sometimes you don't need to come up with an answer right away. Sometimes you need to take a step back and

say, "What's really the issue? What's the question? And what problem are we trying to solve?" Right? And that may be where you take a weekend and think about it. Just let it cogitate. Right? Because

if you work on a problem over and over and over and over again, you just get caught in a loop, right? So, if I say, "Let's get some survey work done on that," that means let's take a step back. Let's

listen to the input, but let's really see what what we're trying to accomplish. What's the what's the question, what are the resources, and what are we trying to solve? >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >>

Okay. I just have a followup question. In your initial interview, we discussed about key positions that are open in town. I want you to explain to the board what you do in your town for finance

director. We don't have one. We don't have that position. We don't have the position of HR director either. I don't have an assistant town administrator. So, it it's the town administrator. Um, not to

say that I don't have help. I mean, I have I have tremendous staff support and I have a benefits coordinator that manages the benefits for people. I have an outstanding executive assistant and payroll

people and and so forth and so on. But those titled positions that look at bigger pictures in certain atmospheres like human resources or finance, um, I don't or an assistant, I don't have that. Um,

so it falls to me and I think that's one of the benefits of my experience is I've done this before. It's not an overwhelming challenge. It's just timing, right? It just takes time. And again, a lot of

what I just spoke about when those things are coming together for me, I've got to take a step back and say, okay, what's the critical path? What needs to be done first? What needs to happen? Where is

the board fit into this? Right? And and how do we go forward? So, a lot of strategically understanding what's next and what's the critical path and what can wait, right? Because some things just have

to wait. If uh I told somebody the other day, if if I dropped everything everybody wanted me to work on, everything would be on the floor, >> right? Everything would be on the floor. So, you've got to

just, you know, sometimes you ask tell people, "Hey, I'll get back to you in a week or I'll get back to you Tuesday." But if you say that, get back to the person on Tuesday. Right. >> So, >> okay.

Anybody else? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Wonder it. >> Yeah. >> Wow. All right. >> Thank you. >> Does he have any >> Oh, yeah. I didn't even ask questions for the board. >> Yeah. I forgot that. Thanks,

Nick. >> No, no, I'm like like wait a second. Don't >> got my notes. >> Well, you we know what you ride. What do you ride? >> Uh 2012 Harley Fat Bob. >> Nice. Okay, here we go. That wasn't >> I just

go in my moped, so I don't ride. >> And I know we talked a little bit about Harley's, but there's no such thing as a bad motorcycle. >> Correct. As long as you're riding. Yes. >> As long as you're

riding and wear a helmet. >> Yes. >> Anyway, um so you've asked me what I think the first month or two or three or six look like. What do you believe the first month, two or three or six look like for

your new manager? What are your expectations? >> Go right ahead. >> Uh I believe right now personnel is a very important issue right now. I think that we've had a decent amount of turnover

particularly in key positions in town department head. So whether it's you know addressing the finance director position with a new finance director or HR director or assuming that role those need to

get tackled now. We need to set up a you know a chain of command and just fill in the organizational structure right now. Then from there we can start addressing, you know, the HR issues I feel that

we have in town and start working on uh reviving the culture that that's that's within the walls of town hall. And number two on that that I would task our next town manager with having to juggle at

the same time is going to be financial management. We've been without a finance director for a span of time now and we need to get on that yesterday. So those would be my two top priorities as well as

acclimating yourself with the members of the board and us with you. >> Wonderful. >> I I'm about the same as Brian, but also I you know we have a strong chief of police. I don't I want to make sure

there's no conflict between upstairs and downstairs. We've been pretty good so far with that. Um the fire department is a big issue talking thinking regionalization is something maybe in the future.

>> Um and definitely personnel. Personnel is huge. I think uh what I'm looking for in a manager within the first couple months is someone who um can build up the staff and build up the community

engagement that I think we really need. Um I'm looking for someone who's a unifier and someone who is ready to hit the ground running um to bring people together. I think that's like one of the the

qualities that um experience and I believe some people are just have it and some people just don't. It's that that charismatic uh nature to bring people together. >> Yeah, Jeeoff, you touched on it

too. Uh listen, learn, assess the town operations. Um priorities, figure out what your priorities are. And that's pretty much it's easier said than done, but it's a lot. You know, coming in not

knowing anyone pretty much. And it just building the relationships is everything. >> And you can talk to people, you can you can win them over. So, >> every interaction is an opportunity. >> Correct.

>> Right. Or it could go bad and it could go good. >> Uh but it's an opportunity. Yeah. >> You don't know until you start, right? >> Yeah. And I mean, I'll echo a lot of what the uh the other

selectmen have said, but what I'd really be looking for is I'd want an assessment of structure. So, I don't want just I'm gonna backfill because I have to backfill >> and build a team. I want a true

assessment. I want you to look at finance. And I also don't want, you know, I know you do it all now. I don't want well, I'm just going to do it. >> I want a true honest opinion of what people we need

in what seats. Um, my next two two biggest points would be budget going into 2028. I think we ought to get ahead of that. Um, and the capital plan. I think we need a good capital plan in place. I

think it's time to stop with the surprises. A surprise roof here, an HVAC unit over here. I think it's time for a capital plan across the town. >> Understood. Makes sense. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well,

thank you very much. >> Nice to meet you. >> Very nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you very much for coming. >> Great to meet you. Thanks. >> Thanks to you. again. >> Absolutely. I don't

want >> Joshua back there to put his >> I'm going to call him a different name. We'll just stay. >> More guys. >> I know. >> I have to make up for my mistakes. >> I know. Almost got to double down. >>

Yeah. >> How you doing? >> Water ready. >> How are you? Nice to see you. >> Nice to meet you, Nick. >> Okay, let get settled. Eric Duffy, >> I'm just going to ask you to tell the board a little bit

about yourself in the uh initial interview. >> Yeah. Uh so thank you for having me. I appreciate the time to be here uh and your interest in me as a candidate. Uh my name is Eric Duffy. Uh I've uh

been in Mun Government for about nine years. I have a degree in finance in Bley University, a masters in politics from Newcastle University in England. Uh I started working in municipal government in

Lel out of the auditors and the community development department. I want to get in government. So I actually took an entry- level job to make sure I could get in. Uh within six months, I was promoted

to uh budget director for the police department, overseeing a $30 million budget, uh working with the police chief on their budget and financials, federal state grants, um oversaw department of four

or five people doing accounts payable, accounts receivable, um all grants, detail reconciliations, uh worked with the city council and the CFO on the budget throughout the year. Uh after that I moved

to Salem, Massachusetts where I was a business manager for public works, engineering, water and sewer, trash recycle, and for some reason entertainment. Um so I get to say I played a part in uh

Halloweenings at uh Salem which is a nice little thing on my resume. Um there first chance to see like big capital projects um working on you know kind of the cross collaboration of all departments

working together. Um at that point I moved to sale Massachusetts uh sorry Stoner Massachusetts uh for a new role they created budget director role which was a combination of the school business

administrator and the assistant town accountant. So I got my school business license. Um I was in charge of the school budget along with the superintendent. I put together the town budget. Uh both my

budgets won GFOA distinguished budget awards the few times I was there. Um I worked on kind of finding efficiencies and effectiveness in the government. So we moved the school finance office into town

hall uh for more oversight but also kind of create some more efficiencies. Uh we saved money and staff on that process. Um when the town kind of left I was asked to assume that role which I did. Um at

that point I worked very hard to kind of break down the silos that had happened between the departments. um created kind of a deacto leadership team of finance with the treasurer and the assessor and

the chief procurement officer and really kind of worked hard together to kind of work together, find efficiencies, see ways we work together, um train and mentor uh staff. Um I worked very hard uh

with the new school uh um project uh a $200 million project that got approved of the superintendent um and really try and find ways to be more transparent with the public. Um, one of the issues we

faced was the school budget was kind of this unknown and at the end of the year they'd say, "Hey, we have a deficit. Hey, we have a surplus. Uh, we need some more money transferred over. Um, so at the

request of the school committee, I created a projection sheet that we we showed each month. Um, that will lay out not only where the school was at that moment, but we thought where the school would be

throughout the whole fiscal year. So, we could say in January, hey, you know, we think we're in trouble. We need to cut back on spending or hey, we're in good position. Maybe we can afford this extra

extra thing. Um, I've taken that that projection sheet with me throughout my career. Um, I used now Woodstock to the point where last November we were able to understand that we were over budgeted for

a dispatch and fire EMS staff. So, we're able to make changes in November to make sure we we ended the year in a surplus for those apartments. Um, after I was in Stonem, uh, my wife and I always kind

of wanted to move to Vermont and live there. She got a full remote job. Um, this job in Woodstock came up. Uh, it was a very hard decision. I love Stonem. still talked to a lot of people there, still

friends there. I'm still in a Wordle uh group chat with some of the employees there. Um but it was an interesting opportunity so I took it. Um I've been in Woodstock now for four years or just under

four years. Um came into a situation where a lot of instability in the leadership role. They had a long-term servant town manager who passed away in office and then for five years they had six or

seven interim um non-inter uh town managers. Uh lots of questions about the financials. No one knew where the money was. No one knew that that the strength of the financials. Uh lot and because of

that, the departments kind of were in silos and people kind of had the neck up saying I have to protect my own department because I don't know who's going to be in charge tomorrow. Um so over four

years we really changed that around. Um brought some stability. Uh changed policies for recruitment and retention. Uh we've doubled our undesated fund balance which is kind of the Vermont's um free

cash. Uh we've doubled our reserves. Um, we bought a water company that could have been done in 200 years. Uh, we just bonded three 35 thou $35 million uh for a wastewater project. Uh, we worked with

the select board and the trustees. I have two bosses, 10 10 board members um on leadership to really get them out there and kind of proide the leadership for the town. Um, and then work with the

departments to see the bigger picture and kind of all work together as one. Um, beyond that, I have a beagle, uh, which is a crazy dog, which is probably a bad decision, but we love her. Um, and we're

excited to move back to Massachusetts. >> Okay. Thank you, Brian. You can ask Brian ask this questions. >> Eric, thank you very much for showing interest, too. Appreciate it. And I also went to Salem

on Halloween in 2009. Wild. It is wild. On Halloween. So, I I Yeah, I commend you for all that great stuff there. >> I didn't do that much work, but I was involved a little bit. >> Oh, you're being

modest. Come on now. So, I got a scenario. Two two questions, but they're both scenarios. Okay. So, first one, it's Friday, 4:30 p.m. You receive information about a potentially serious town issue,

but the information isn't verified. If true, the board needs to know. If false, you could unnecessarily create a major problem. What do you do between 4:30 when you found out and 6 p.m. say? >> That's

a good question. Um I think first I think what policy I have is any news uh should come from me not from Facebook or friends or neighbors of the board should always hear from me first on on any topic.

Um that's something I kind of strive myself to do. When something comes up I go through my mental checklist of what's happening what what do I need to do? Uh what processes I should take. Um next I

think it's a relationship you have with the select board and the chair getting to know them getting to know how they want information what they consider priorities. Um, you know, some examples is I

had a chair whose response was, "Unless town hall is burning down, you don't need to call me." I had one where if there was a fender on a Sunday morning, they wanted a phone call and they wanted an

update. Um, I had another one who was very big into the parent group chat. So, I knew if something was happening, that group chat would know about it. So, again, that person involved was able to kind

of help communicate it to the public. So, really knowing your board and how they want to act is, I think, step one. Um so when that phone call comes you know what steps to take what they expect from

you. Um so first thing is you get the information um you I think for me you go through do you deem it important if it's true what are the consequences and what are the steps you need to take at that

moment. So if it is true, I'm going to look at it and say, "Oh, sorry. If it is that important, my first call is going to be to the chair, say, "Hey, this this is happening. Not sure if it's verified

or not, but I want to give you a heads up. This this could be ongoing. This could be what's going to what's going to happen." Then I want to say, "I'll give you updates as as much as I possible. Do

investigation, figure out what's going on, talk to the people in the community, your staff, get all the information you can report back to the chair, say, "Hey, here's my update. Here's where we're

at. Here's what I know. Here's what I still don't know. and here's what we're going to work on. Um, if it's not true, I would hope that the relationship I have with the the chair and the board is one

of trust and communication. So, they trust that I heard something, I let them know. And if it's not true, it's better that they heard it from me and it wasn't true rather than not hearing from me. And

then there's gossip in town that, hey, this happened, is it true or not? Um, so really building that relationship with the boards, knowing how to communicate with them, and then going through your

checklist of when is it important, when do you contact them, what information do they need, and how do you communicate, how do you communicate that to them. >> Thank you. This is more of a personnel

one. Two department heads who both report to you have a deteriorating relationship. It's beginning to affect employees and town services. Both privately tell you the other person's the other person's

the problem. How do you handle it? >> Um, >> yes. I think for me, you know, my goal we never to get to that point. You know, I think the first goal is to make sure you have the relationship with your

with your department heads. We are talking to them where they feel comfortable to tell you what's going on, how they're feeling. Um, in my weekly check-ins with my department heads, I always ask a

question, you know, how are things going with X department head? Um, usually it's nothing, but I think it's for them. it's a check-in and also gives them the space to say, "Hey, actually, you know

what? I may not have an issue with that department head, but this conversation happened with this person and I want you to be know to be aware of it." So, kind of building that relationship with them,

giving them space to come to you ahead of time um and have that relationship with them. Um a great example of that is I had a new department head um came to me and he said, "Hey, you know, I don't

like what's happening at the fuel tank. The fire department's coming using our tank. Then we pay for it. You know, this make me upset. I want that money." And I said, "Okay, actually that's not how it

works." You know, like it's allocated across different funds. They just use it and then on the back end, you know, we we do it. And I was able to show him invoices how we broke it down. Um, but having

that relationship with him, that trust that he came to me first, I was able to stop a potential personnel issue from happening, you know, down the road. Um, so that's how I think I would try to

approach things first. Um, with that said, you know, things do happen. Um, so in a scenario that you described, I would bring them in individually, sit down with them, talk to them, see what's going

on, see what their issue is, um, see what their concerns are. Um, and most importantly, see how it's impacting their work. Um, so you have a sense of why maybe they're upset. Um, after you talk to

both of them individually, I would then spend time looking into the issue on my own. You know, talking to other staff members, looking at data, um, look what's going on and get a better sense of maybe

what's happening. Um, at that point, I probably meet them together, uh, sit down, go over what the concern is, uh, go over what the solution may be. Um, and then remind them that, you know, they're

here to work for the public and to do work for the public. And that it's my job to make sure that happens. So, we're going to find a solution that is beneficial and solves the problem while also doing

what's best for Milbury, not what's best for the fire department, police department, or the engineering department. Um then at that point I think you looked at look at this as a performance issue. You

know you let them know like if you're not going to do what is necessary of you that's a performance issue. You know you're going to hold them accountable for that. It's going to be in the review. Um

you can give them training if you need to and you kind of really help hold them accountable to make sure they're doing what's best for Milbury. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. >> Okay. How will the

town of Milbury benefit from you as its town manager? >> Uh, that's a good question. Um, I think I to start off, you know, doing my research on on Milberry, you know, and and what's going on here and

maybe what's need here, you know, I think there's a need for some civility. There's some need for some financial oversight. There's some need for um financial planning. There's some need for community

engagement. Um, there's need for ability to build relationships, provide leadership. Um, you know, I was lucky enough the last week to get in touch with some department heads, talk to them what's

going on here. Um, and what I heard from them the most is they want someone to come in, provide some leadership, guidance, financial acrement, um, some stability, um, and really work with them to kind

of help move forward. Um, that's what I've done in Woodstock. Um, from the beginning, I I was able to come in, build relationships with the boards, have them provide the leadership needed, had the

leadership kind of move down from the board level to me, to my staff. Um, I've dealt with boards who do show leadership and those who don't, and the difference is incalarable. When you have a board

shown leadership, the staff is so motivated to go out there and do their job because they see it's coming from above. When you have a a board that shows up on Tuesdays or Mondays or Thursdays, walks

in five minutes for the meeting, votes, leaves, and you'll see them again for another two weeks, that trles down to the staff, you know. So, really working with boards to get that leadership going um

is something I've been able to do in Woodstock. Um, additionally, you know, when I came into um, Woodstock, no one trusted the finances. No one knew what they were. Um, they were afraid to even talk

about them publicly because they didn't, they couldn't answer some of the questions. Um, when we went to buy the water company and we were going to use undes fund balance, I had to spend weeks talking

to people what that meant, you know, and breaking it down for a sense of like, you know, if you have a dollar grocery list and you go out and you spend $90, that $10 is extra money. you know, that's

kind of an undes fund balance. That money kind of sits over somewhere and builds up over time, you know, so be able to explain things to them in simple terms and then building trust with the finances.

We post our reports on on the website probably quarterly. Um, every siteboard meeting or trustees meeting, we go over the financial report in a public meeting. Um, so really trying to build that

trust. People know where the money is. Um, additionally, I've shown, I think, a willingness to be honest and straightforward with boards. Um after about a year in my position at Woodstock, I called a

special meeting of both boards. I presented for about an hour on my findings from my first year. Uh went through my concerns, went through my what I think the solutions would be and kind of went

through the steps that we needed to take. Um and one of the things I was able to figure out was that we were looking at about 20% tax increase in in two years from now. Uh that was based solely on

doing some financial analysis and saying, "Hey, listen. This is what we're seeing with expenses. As we're seeing with revenues, we're talking about 20 25% tax increase in two years. Having that

conversation at that point, we were able to work over the next two years to get the budget down, makes changes, find efficiencies. Uh so when it came to the next budget cycle, we it was a 5% increase

instead of a 25% increase. But having that conversation publicly and then that conversation for two years publicly really kind of changed the scope we're looking at and kind of build that trust up.

Um, finally, you know, I have a a wide breath of municipal government. I've been in for nine years. I've been in main different departments, been a department head, been an entry- level staff member,

I've been a fine instructor, uh, now talent manager. Uh, I know the whole scope of this government. So, I'm talking to someone. I understand the lingo. I know what they're talking about. I know more

about coverts than I ever wanted to know in my life, uh, being in Vermont. Um, and so when I sit down with department heads, kind of have that knowledge, talked to them. Um, I've been out in the

community talking to people. I know how to deal with it with the public. Um, so I think I'm a unique position to come in here, um, provide some leadership guidance, um, and really help turn things

around, build up the staff morale, um, and kind of get Milbury going forward again. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I'm up. >> All right. Um, thank you so much for being here. Um, I just wanted to know a

little bit more about um, you know, typically how long does it take um, for you to negotiate union contracts and your present position? uh do you have experience in negotiating those contracts and

what is your strategy for collective bargaining and your approach? >> Yeah, it's a a very good question. So um I think at this point um over the last six years I've been involved in eight or nine

negotiations. Um the first three were as the finance director of town in Stoneham. Um and that was uh the fire uh dispatch DPW and some town staff. Um so I was there to kind of provide financial

analysis uh and again not just analysis for you know what does this wage mean for us going forward but like what does this wage fit in for the next three years four years of Sonum's future um and

really provide the town administrator the the information he needed to kind of make those decisions to kind of negotiate successfully. Um, in Woodstock, I've negotiated four contracts and we're just

signing a fifth one now, trying to schedule it out. Um, so I've done two police contracts, uh, one dispatch contract and one firing EMS contract. Um, typically they've taken about two months, um, from

start to finish. Um, they've all been successful, uh, without any real issues. Um, we've worked well together, you know, across the board. Um, so I think when I, so my strategy and why I think I've

been successful, um, is one is I involve staff. So I have my finance director with me. I I have him doing the numbers. I have him doing the projections. Um, I have my chief of staff as well who comes

with me to kind of provide some of the guidance and if I'm missing something, she's there to kind of uh um, poke me, let me know uh, what's going on. Um, and really, you know, I think all this stuff

starts way before you're in that table across from each other. Um, I think the biggest thing you do, and I'll say this all day long, is relationship. Build a relationship. Build relationship. Build.

So, build your relationship with your staff. Let them know you're there for them, that you support them throughout, you know, the time being, not just when you're trying to finalize negotiation. Um,

so knowing the employee, knowing their their lives, their family allows you to kind of build a relationship with them. So they don't look at you as management versus the union. They look at you as two

people trying to come to a compromise. They both know we're going to meet. Um, I remember when we were negotiating the fire contract, you know, uh, they had a new union president. He came in in a

suit. I never saw him in a suit before. I had this big presentation. He started going through it and I stopped him. I said, "Listen, you can do this if you want. You can go through the whole thing. I

appreciate it. Like you don't need to impress me. I know how invariable you guys are. I know how the work you do. I like I'm on the same page with you. You know, I want to get this done in a rightful

way. And he stopped because he was sweating and uh he enjoyed the break. Um but you know, after a few rounds of negotiations, they said, "Is this the best you can do, Eric?" I said, "This is the best

we can do." He said, "Great, let's do it." Because I built that trust up with them. They knew I wasn't trying to get one over with them. And what I was offering was fair and balance. Um going into the

going into the process, what I've done is I've tapped my network of colleagues. Uh so in Vermont we've created a pretty strong group of town managers. Um so when any of us have any negotiations either

we meet up or we send an email say hey I'm going with the police in two weeks. You got to send me what you're working on and then we have those conversations. Okay like here's what these different

talents are working on. Uh but more importantly what what creative ideas are we finding? So what are like outside beyond salary benefits are we talking about that kind of can get us to a yes. Uh, one

of the things I learned in Stonum was, you know, finding small things on the side that you can provide that may not be a financial burden to the town, but kind of get you to the Yes. So, those non uh

financial benefits that can really kind of help you go through. Um, and finally, you know, I think you go into those things, try and treat them fair, equally, and try to keep everyone kind of on the

even on the even kale. Um, something we did in Woodstock was there's a very bad personnel policy in place. Um, it was created by a previous board, very very anti-mp employee. Uh, it was very

detrimental to recruitment and and retention for us. Um, and so I made it one of our tasks to kind of update that and make it more 21st century, more more beneficial to to staff. And what I told the

boards in the process was, you know, we're going to make these changes and I'm going to give them to the union. We're not going to open up negotiations. we're not going to go we're going to treat them

as treating everyone else and that's going to be a sign of good faith on our end. That we could go go to them and say, "Hey, listen. If you want two more vacation days, we're going to open up and do

X, Y, and Z." I was like, "They're our employees. They're just as valuable as everyone else. We're going to we're going to sign letters with them and give them the benefits and give them goodwill."

Um, and we've done that for all the unions. Um, and that has actually helped in the negotiations. When you walk in the door, they know that you've been there for them already and going to be there in

the future. >> Thank you. And and just to follow up on that question, um you cited um archaic policy from um earlier boards, you know, and I commend you for having to work with 10 different board

members because I know even five is tricky. Um and so kudos to you, I guess. What are what was that policy and um if you're allowed to explain that? >> Yeah, I mean it's a public document. Um you

know, I I'll guess one of the policies came about or came about from uh this predates me but they basically called a staff meeting and the board said you know um you're lucky to work here and you know

that's it and we're going to create a policy and you know we're going to do what's best for the taxpayers and nothing else. Um so I you get vacation time I think for the first six months to a year you

were there. Uh then you got I think a year for the first two years, you know, two weeks the first like five years. Um maybe nine holidays. Um you know uh I think maybe 10 sick days or something. Um so

not horrible but also in a world where you know postcoid salaries are uh escalating and people can go can't go anywhere. It wasn't a a good thing when you when you hire someone say, "Oh, we can't go

on vacation for six months and you know, in six months like you probably take a week, but then you can't go anywhere again for, you know, a month and a or a year and a half." Um, so we really some of

those things we kind of, you know, we put things in place that, you know, work from home could happen. Um, it wasn't a guarantee, but it was an option if it made sense for everyone involved. um and

really really kind of looked at ways to kind of give more time back to the employee and let them know that we value them, you know, as an employee. So, we went from kind of a very anti- employee

personnel policy to one that we now are able to highlight when we post jobs. If you look at a Woodstock job posting, the first page is our benefits before we even say what the job is where. It's like

if you come here, this is where you're going to get. Then we say this is what we need from you. Um but it's a good way to kind of get that recruitment and get people happy to stay there. Interesting.

Thank you. I appreciate you elaborating. Um, how will you plan to spend your first six months of Milbury? Um, explain what your strategy will be um, and how you plan on implementing it. And, uh, I

know it's a tall order, so if you can provide as much detail while remaining cons concise as humanly possible, it's greatly appreciated. >> Um, yeah. Um so I think the first thing is you know um

whatever I I say here to some degree it does not matter because the moment you start things are going to happen out of your control that you just have to manage. Um so I think the first six months

first day you're going to start managing right away. Um I was four months into my time at Woodstock and uh high-end department head retired kind of unexpectedly and then we had a flood that uh killed

portable water in the town for over 10 days. Right. So all these great plans I had kind of went out the window because I get water, you know, to the senior center. I had to find ways for them to cook

food for the seniors. Uh we had to find ways to get water to the schools. Um and so, you know, first day you're working, you're managing, and you're doing what you can. Um outside of that, you know, I

think the most important thing is to build those relationships everyone. So building relationships with the select board, with the other committees and commissions, um with your staff, with your

department heads, and with the community. So spending really spending time with all those parties individually and as a whole to really get to know them, let them know you and find which ways you can

work to work best together. um you know with the select board and trustees you know 10 of them um you know I spent a lot of time having onetoone meetings with them you know whether it was at lunch

coffee um dinner drinks going for a walk uh whatever I could do to kind of spend time with them and get to know them to build that relationship up is what I did um whether this is a sad or a good

thing uh two of my best friends now in Woodstock are two former board members um because we built that time up and when they left the board um we can be a little more honest with each other now, but

um we're also able we built our various relationship. Uh so we still like uh get together and hang out and talk. Um department heads, same thing. You know, you're spending time. I'd probably start off

with maybe weekly department head meetings individually with all the department heads. You know, as time goes on, maybe move that to bi-weekly, monthly, whatever you need to do. Uh but the first six

months really getting to know them, talking to them, listening to them, um figuring out how, you know, you can work with them. Um same thing with staff. you like what I like to do is walk into an

office, sit down, just start talking to people, see what's going on, get to know them. Um, I'll bring my laptop to the police department, fire department, just sit down, do some work, get some emails,

and kind of just be around them and talk to them, kind of get to know them. Um, it go it goes a very long way when you can interact with them, you know, on a one-on-one basis. Um, I am not a hunter. I

never hunted in my life. I probably never will. I can have a conversation with any of my public works director about hunting for five to 10 minutes because I build up their relationship with them. I

know when they're going hunting. I know half our staff's off now for turkey hunting. Um, you know, when a firefighter comes in, I know that his son plays football and being able to have those

conversations with them kind of really builds up that relationship. Um, so building those relationship within the community too. You want to be in the community as much as possible. Um, I have over

the last four years held public office hours and those are not at town hall. those are out in the community. So I'm at a cafe, I'm at a restaurant, I'm at a bar, I'm on the green sometimes and say I'm

going to be here from this time if you want to come talk to me about anything, you know, I will be here. Um we hold public forums for any major issue. So every budget cycle we're out holding public

forums throughout the day talking to people. Um I also am trying to be as present as possible in in the community. Um I try to spend my money equally around all the cafes in the morning with the with

the tea I drink and and and where I go shopping. Um, everyone knows me in town. Um, you know, a quick a few quick stories about a few weeks ago. I was walking back to town hall. Someone grabbed me and

said, "Hey, I was at the playground with my grandkids. There's a nail sticking out of the wood. Look dangerous. Can you fix it?" Um, it's not a playground. We don't own it, but I know who does. So, I

made a phone call. It was fixed the next day. Um, so that kind of things helps. Um, I was walking through the day with my wife and uh, a shopkeeper saw me and and yelled out and this is Sunday

afternoon peak foliage in Woodstock. We have thousands of people on the street. He goes, "Eric Duffy, I love you." And I was, you know, and shocked, but like, you know, I built those relationships

over time. So, you know, and be have the ability to do that with everyone is very important. Um, next would just be observe. Um, you know, so observe how people work, how they operate, processes they

have, what they do, why they're doing it. Um, don't be critical, don't be judgmental, ask questions, but but just figure out why they why they're doing the things they're doing. Um, third would be

really to dig into the financials. Um, get a sense of not only where we are right now, where we're going to be for the rest of the year, but really to put together that long-term financial forecast so

when we go into the next budget cycle, we can make decisions based on knowing how things are going to impact us over time. Um, and I think finally, last thing is, you know, look at small wins. You

know, look at things you can do to show the public that your government is working for them. Um, you know, a few things I thought of is, you know, posting our financial statements, you know, not the

audit, but, you know, the monthly statements um on the website so people know they're there so people can go and look at them and they know. We're not hire transparent as possible. Um, second, you

know, dig around on the website. I was on the economic development page and there's a brochure from 2016 with the town manager who no longer works here, uh, advertising, you know, reach out to him if

you want to do economic development in Milbury. You know, I look at that and saying this town doesn't want to do anything like the person no longer works here. So, making changes on the website that

so people have, you know, they see that we're trying to be better um, and trying to make the changes we needed. Um, and then, you know, this is just one example, but this morning I went down to the

bike trail for a walk to kind of check that out. Um, I parked, looked around, and started walking the wrong direction because the sign was in such bad shape. It didn't seem like that was the entrance.

Um, and then when I realized my mistake and turned around, um, I noticed on the sign was just a trash bag hanging off the sign. You know, not even a trash barrel, just a trash bag. And to me, that

that doesn't look welcoming. Doesn't doesn't look like we're taking care of that thing. So updating something like that, put a trash bar on there, maybe spend some money to fix a sign, um is an

example of doing small things that people can show you so we can show people that we're making small efforts and the government's kind of trying to work for them. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um, can

you provide an example of employees in your career that you have mentored, helped learn and grow, and maybe even have seen success with taking on responsibility, um, receiving a promotion or growing

into a higher level opportunity elsewhere? >> Yeah, this is something I'm most proud of. Um, one of the things I I strive myself on and pride myself on is, you know, really trying to empower my staff

and work with them and give them the opportunity to learn and grow. Um, you know, the first time I had a chance to really do this was in Stonem. Uh, when I became town accountant, there was a clerk

who was excellent at their job. Um, and when you talk to them and they say, "Oh, I'm just here for the insurance. I'm doing 10 years getting my insurance, so we're set for life. That's why that's why

I'm here. But there was something about her that I knew that wasn't necessarily the case. Um, and the more I talked to her, the more I realized just how how much pride she took in her work and how

much her experience previous to this was extensive. Um, and so I I started saying, okay, well, you know, I'm going to go do a journal entry. Do you want to see how to do a journal entry? Or I'm going

to go to this meeting. Do you want to come to me and be in this meeting with me? Um, or hey, do you have a question on how I did X, Y, and Z? I and Shep saying yes, yes, yes, get involved these

meetings. Um, and I said, "Hey, listen. I I see on Fridays you have a lot of free time. Like, do you want to take on this task?" "Absolutely." So, I started getting her a little more stuff. Um, at

that point, I realized I had a star on my hands. Um, so was the town administrator and advocated for us to put her through the MMA uh, financial workshop that they have. Um, wrote her a letter

recommendation. Um, went to her and said, "I really think you should do this. It's your decision, but if you do it, we will make sure that no none of your work suffers and you can go to this and

succeed." Um, so she did it, she succeeded. Um, a few months later, uh, the assistant treasur position opened up in Stonem and she came to me and said she wanted to apply and she felt bad about it. I

said, "This is what you should do. This is your next step in your career. I I support you." Um, so she applied for the job naturally got it. Um, and I heard last year that she's now the treasurer in a

different municipality as well. Um, so watching her go from there up here, it was something I'm very proud of. Um kind of a different uh option is in Woodstock when we had some turnover and we had a

chance to kind of reorg financial department and make it a little more professional uh have a more hierarchal system uh and make sure we kind of do some more high-end stuff. Um Vermont, it's very

difficult to find employees, very difficult to move there, very expensive. Um and so someone applied from the states and right away I saw this person was you know a motivated person. They went they

put themselves through school as they worked at a hardware store, got an accounting degree, worked their way up through the state system. Um, brought them in and any account any account problem you

had, you give to this person, they could do it fabulously. But they never managed anyone before. They never been kind of a a department head. And so they struggled on the communication, the

management, um, the supervisory roles, you know, the confidence to speak publicly in front of board members. Um so over the next two years I worked with them gained them small wins found ways to kind

of help them gain more confidence giving them more projects to do um really work with them on the management aspect of things of how to deal with employees you know uh practicing the idea that an easy

decision or the right decision easy decision is easy to do today bad consequences going forward the tough tough but right decision is hard today you might lose sleep, but it's going to give you

benefit down the line. And really working with him on those things. So being in the meeting for the first time we had a conversation. Second time, you know, giving the giving advice ahead of time.

Third time, let them do it by themselves. Um then working with them on working with department heads um and select boards and really kind of building the confidence up and the abilities up. um to the

point last week um my finance director held court for about 45 minutes at a public meeting talking about the benefit of updating our water and sewer meters um and total confidence total total

correction persuaded the board you know you know to look into this um something he couldn't have done two years ago um and he's really taking over that department made it his own um for the longest

time department heads came to me for financial questions they now go to him and they come to me together and say hey we want to do this here's where the money is, here's why we can't, here's why we

could or can't do it, or here's a creative solution to this issue. Um, so I think those are two examples of, you know, me helping people kind of move up in their in their positions. >> Great. >> Thank

you very much. >> It's your turn. >> Eric, how's it going so far? >> Are you having fun? >> You tell me. >> Are you enjoying it? What's been your favorite part of the the process so far? Oh god,

that's a great question. Um, I think there's been two. Um, one is just prepping for these interviews, uh, kind of brought back the love of this job and the opportunity of this job. I think, um, doing

this job day in day out, it's a seven day a week job, sometimes 24 hours, you know, you're always on call, you're always talking to people, you know, even a weekend if you're in town, people are going

to come talk to you. um you can get lost in the day-today shuffle, you know, the frustration, the stress, you know, the idea of like what's gonna happen today? Um and be able to kind of take a step

back and kind of look at what I've done in my career and then what I could do here um was really kind of very uh inspiring and helpful. Um the second thing was you know um the calls I had with

department head till last week uh the call I had with the chamber of commerce um and just being in town today you know when I talked to uh chamber of commerce at the end of it I wanted to like buy a

house here she was so excited to talk about this place and how the potential here and how great it was I was like okay I'm going to buy a house tomorrow like this this is amazing realize if I get the

job or not like this is the place to be um and then talk to the department heads you know I've been in four municipalities now you can come across the jaded, upset, angry person um who thinks the

world's against them. Everyone I talked to in Milbury, they all seem to love being here. They just wanted to be able to do better in their departments and their jobs and they wanted someone to work

with the board to buy that for them. Um and that's been really kind of also inspiring to say this is a place where if you bring the right person in the right circumstances, a lot of great things could

happen here. Um and so those two things been the best part of this. >> Absolutely. So, obviously you didn't like the walking trail and the trash bag you found. >> The walking was nice. Past past that.

I I I went pretty far. Um I really enjoyed it. Um and I I also enjoyed my my time uh today. Um I went to uh Pizza Share for lunch and um just sit just um just sitting there, you know, I got side eye

because I think I was the only one that didn't know. Um but everyone came in, they knew, everyone talked to each other. Um, it had that very small town feel of like there's Jim, he's gonna order a

sub, you know, there's Mary. How's the baseball game last night? Um, and it was really kind of a fun experience to be there. I went a few other places today and kind of just experience the community

as a whole was really enjoyable. >> And what would you say out of everything you did today? What was the highlight of it? >> Uh, probably after this when I'm kind of relaxed. Hopefully this goes well.

I can go back and uh and relax and take and get a nice sleep. >> All right. Well, let's get into the meat of it, then. Um, so provide us with a general assessment of Milbury's financial condition. Did

recent town meeting actions help or hurt? And what steps would you take as the town manager to address what you've seen? >> Okay. Uh, that's a big question. Um, so I think first I'll start kind of

with with the town meeting. Um, it was a past town manager's job, the financers's job, you know, this board's job to put together a budget that can go to town meeting and get passed and funded to keep

the government going. Um, I was not in the room for those decisions. You know, I don't have all information in front of me. Um, so I'm not going to sit here and criticize any decisions that got made

or any process got made. Uh, at the end of the day, everyone had a decision to make. You made a decision. that budget got passed, the government's running. That's a good thing. Um, sometimes decisions

are hard. Um, and it's not me to sit here and Monday morning quarterback what happened six months, eight months ago when I don't have all the information. Um, I I believe a budget is the being hard of

municipality. It talks about and shows the services that town's going to provide. Uh, the level of those services, the quality of those services. Um, but I also know because it's a living thing, you

know, uh, a spreadsheet doesn't give the whole story. um you really need to dig deep and kind of understand what's in that spreadsheet but also what was not included in that spreadsheet what decisions

were made why why they were made um so I I don't want to speak ill of town how meeting or decisions get made um having said that um you know and not having all the information I I think the situation

is very grim I think it's very bad um I I think you you used reserves uh to to pay for capital projects um without funding any more reserves. Um, at the same time, I assume the budget's very tight.

Uh, which means you're probably not going to have an excess of surplus this year to kind of build up those reserves. Um, so you're already kind of further hindering yourself for, you know, future um,

progress and investment in infrastructure by not having those reserves there. Um, you know, I think your OPED uh, funding rate is like 1% uh, or something close to that. It was a few years ago. Um

that's a that's a massive concern for me. Um you know I think um on your website there's a 2026 presentation on the finances where it talks about potentially cutting staff not having a cola. Um that

may be the reality of it. Um but for staff to see that and understand that that is also very grim. They don't know if they're going to have a job next year. they don't know if they're here, they can

get um a raise. In a world where prices are always increasing, um if a staff member looks and says, "I may not get a raise next year. I'm going to have a job next year. Why are they why am I going to

stay here uh when I go somewhere else to make more money?" Um so that may not be a direct financial pressure, but it's a consequences of the financial situation. Um, so I I I you know, having a having

a deficit when you first start out looking the budget's fine, but going through um and and in a place where you're going to hurt your reserves is always always never a good thing. Um I think also you

were helped by the assessment coming in uh I know for the school district. I've been in the opposite direction of that. I've had assessment come in higher than we budgeted for. Um and so that could

have happened, you know, or that could happen next year. Um so that's a concern for me. Um, you know, if you have a tight budget already that just got passed, um, if you have a small amount of

reserves, um, if you don't have a new revenue stream, you know, this budget is going to be even more difficult. It's going to probably be even tighter than it is this year. Um, so you're getting

further and further behind the A-ball each year that goes by that there are no changes. Um, so I I don't think it's ideal where you're at. Um, having said that, I think there are things we can do to

improve it. You know, again, in Woodstock in four years, I helped double the undesated fund balance, double the reserves, found new revenue, brought on $4 million worth of grants in the last three

years, partnered with elected officials, state reps, and community groups to kind of get that that money, bring that in um and look for efficiencies and effectiveness uh inside reorg some departments

to save money and make changes. So, I think there are potentials there. Um, that to answer your last question about what I would have done differently, um, you know, again, it's hard to sit here and

say I wasn't in the room, what what I would have done differently. I think what I'll say is it would it's my job to never put the town in that position, you know, in the first place. Um, so if I was

here, what I would have hopefully have done is built out a financial forecast for the next five years. So we know ahead of time what we're looking at. We know where our revenue streams are. We know

what we can project going forward. Um and so we don't have to get get into a position where we're lucky because an assessment came in you know under what we thought or we're not a position where we're

you know giving up the future for today. Um so really working ahead of time having those uh having those analysis done and then talking about it publicly for a very long time um is what's necessary.

you know, override is kind of the the in popular thing throughout throughout Massachusetts these days. They're also always failing um these days as well. Um but you have to have the conversation. You

have to be out in the public saying this is the consequences of where we're at. This is where we need if we don't do this, this is what's going to happen. Not say you need an override, but you need to

have a conversation about you need to let the public know what the options are. Um you need to kind of like go through and let people know where you're at. Um I didn't have time to look at the

financial presentation uh that I I referenced earlier. Um and so I don't know if they went into in the detail but you know you have to go in detail of what you mean when you're talking about cuts or

when you're talking about cola you have to give the people a very understanding of what it means. You know does it mean if you call 911 the police not going to come in 10 minutes? Um does it mean that

your road's not going to be paved for the first six hours of a snowstorm? Um you know what do these cuts actually mean? Um what does new revenue actually mean as well? So really kind of having those

conversations constantly, not just when it's two weeks till you have to sign the budget. >> Oh, thank you. And I'll tell you, I really appreciate your honesty on that. >> Um I know it's not easy to

get up here and say it, but it has to be said, right? >> Um >> Yeah. >> So looking ahead, right, come in, get the budget in good standing. What's your outlook on not having to utilize Prop 2 and a

half and actually increase taxes that full two and a half percent on a yearly basis? What have you historically done? Maybe do you consistently raise taxes? Have you looked at not hitting that max?

Maybe you only raise one and a half percent. Um, tell me a little bit about that. >> Yeah, so uh my time with Sonoma, uh, we always did two and a half was kind of the the guarantee. Um, Vermont's

vastly different. Vermont doesn't have Prop 2 and a half. Um, Vermont is basically you can raise the taxes as high as you want as long as you can get them passed. Um, Vermonters are very tight with

their wallets like most people are. So, you're not going to get a high bud but but and actually you can um you know that's a tough that's a tough question because you know there's always the balance

between services and taxes and making sure people can still live here and afford here. Um, and so I think it's probably a case to case basis. It's doing that analysis, looking where we're at, looking

what going at two and a half% each year would mean, look at when what not doing it would mean. You know, really breaking down what those actual realities are in both both sides. Um, it also opens the

door to have a conversation about does a town want development and what type of development do they want? Uh, and what that development would mean. You know, it's easy to say let's build here and get

50 new houses. We'll increase our tax base so we don't raise taxes. But what does that mean for the character of the neighborhood? what does that mean for the added cost for public works, police,

fire, etc. Um, but really having that conversation, having a holistic view of what all the options are and then having that conversation publicly, you know, with the public and the community and

saying these are the options we have. This is what all this means. Now, let's talk about what the best approach is going forward. >> Absolutely. Um, so I guess looking ahead, right, if you were to

jump into the position, what do you think your biggest hurdle would be that you'd have to overcome? >> It's a good question. Um, I think building trust. I think to do this role successfully to to uh

to to talk about the challenges I've laid out here to talk about the successes I had in Woodstock um and Stonem is all built in trust. Um when you go to department head and talk to them, they have to

trust you. When you talk to the sect board and give them advice, they have to trust you. Um and when you talk to the public, they have to trust you. you know, um, in times of very high scrutiny in

Woodstock, we bought a water company, um, with over 80% of the vote in in favor, we had the largest town meant turnout in decades. We probably broke fire code in the process, but we won't tell anyone

that. Um, you know, we bonded for a $35 million wastewater plant that got kicked down the can for almost a decade with 83% vote in favor rate because we built that trust with the community and we were

out there talking to them. Um, and we're able to tell them why, what we're doing, why are we doing it, but also we able to tell them this is where the money's coming from, you know, this is where we

have the money, this how much it's going to cost you, you know, and then we gave them all the information and they could decide which way they want to go, but building that trust. Um, so when you're

in this role, you know, there's going to be a lot of hard decisions. There going to be a lot of shift in priorities. There's going to be a lot of sorry, we can't do that with this has to wait another

year. And what you need to do is have your department heads understand that what you're telling them is the truth. Um though you're telling them is accurate and that you're going to work with them on

solutions going forward. Um and that's something I've tried to build in Woodstock is really try and get my my department heads the build of trust not only with me but with each other so we understand

how we all work together. Um and those decisions can be made. Um you know I think the next few years here are challenging. There's opportunities, but it's not going to be accomplished if the person in

this role doesn't have the trust uh with everyone and the relations built with everyone. >> Awesome. Um I guess lastly, we'll end it on kind of a fun note, right? So, >> what has been fun about this?

>> Yeah. >> Well, for some people it's fun, right? For others it might not be. Um what do you like to do for fun? What are your passions? If you, you know, financially you were sound, you never had to

work a day in your life, >> what, what would you go out and do? >> Wow. Um, it's a great question. Um, my wife and I love to travel. You know, it's our favorite thing to do. Um, we both spent a lot of

our early years uh traveling and working abroad. Um, and we try to do one or two international trips a year. Um, as I get older, it's less um, exciting as it used to be. You know, it used to be

Cambodia on a bus and now it's, you know, uh, Rome in a nice hotel a little bit. Um, that's, you know, getting old. Um, so I always just love to travel. I mean, that's my my favorite thing. You know,

uh, our favorite our biggest fights are where we're going to next and then the most enjoyable time is let's plan that trip that we agreed to. Um, so doing that. Um, I love to read. You know, I I feel

like one of the things with this job that's difficult is Monday through Friday when I wake up, I'm on my email, checking emails, checking in with people, come home, doing the same thing. So, I can

only really read on the weekends on vacation. So, if I had more time to read, I'd really enjoy that. Um, I took a few days off a few weeks ago. My wife had a conference in Boston and I read like three

books in three days because I just could sat down and read for So, I think read and travel will be my uh two things I do the most. Oh, >> very good. Well, thank you very much. Yeah. >> Thank you. Yes,

Mr. Duffy, thank you for taking the time to be with us and for your interest in our town. I have uh two questions for you. First one is, what is what would you say is your top strength? What would you

say is your top weakness? >> Yeah. Um I think when it comes to strength um I'd probably say is my experience in municipal government and my breath of knowledge in this field. Uh I mentioned before you

know I've served in many different departments. I' I've been around for a long time different municipalities. Um I I've learned a a great deal of how to work with different people and in that sense um

I'm very strong financially. you know, I've managed $100 million budget. Um, I've also managed a $10 million budget, you know, um, $10 million budget, we able to do a lot more with a lot less. Um, and

so I'm able to kind of work within numbers, find creative solutions, um, find ways to kind of push the municipality forward. Um, by building kind of a very strong team and relationship with everyone.

Um, you know, we turned around a very toxic environment in Woodstock to one of the most pleasant, joyful, uh, environments we have, um, based partly on my ability to kind of find good employees, train

them, hire them, and work with them to kind of create this new atmosphere. Um, in Vermont, you pay the school and town are separate uh, entities. Um, and you pay all your school tax to the states u,

but it flows through the municipality. So people come in and we'll write 20, 30, 40,000 checks to our department with 35,000 of that going to the state, you know, 5,000 staying with us. Um, and our

staff is so good that people leave smiling and happy because they had such a good experience, you know, with our staff. Um, so I think my strength is to be able to kind of work within a municipal

structure, um, create a good staff, create sound financial policies, and kind of help move the municipality forward. Um when it comes to I think my biggest weakness um it's something I've been working

on for a while um but it's probably I think human nature um you know and that ability to understand as I mentioned earlier that doing the right things and the easy thing is always the best path

forward. Um, when I started in Woodstock, you know, it was first time as town manager, first time in Woodstock, uh, you know, as an as an employee, not not as as a as a person. Um, and we moved

states, so we kind of moved up to Vermont um, for this job. And so, you know, I took this approach of people need to like me, people need to think I'm friendly, people need to enjoy being around me um

because that's how I'm going to succeed in this role. Um, so when situations came up where do the easy thing or the hard thing, early on I was doing the easy thing because that was just the easy thing

to do, but also it kept people happy. Um, in hindsight that pushed us probably a year behind the improvements we made because I did not take the time to do the hard and right thing. Um, so since then

I've really tried to focus on every single day doing what's right, not what's easy. um I instilled that in my staff um and work with them to kind of have them have the same mentality. So they come to

me and complain about personnel issue. I my first response is well what have you done about it yet? You know I you can complain to me if you want but like I you need to take action and you like what

is the right thing to do here? Not what's the easy thing to do. Um it's still a work in progress. You know uh just a few weeks ago I was talking to my chief of staff on a Friday afternoon and I said

oh yeah this thing came up I have to talk to the staff member about it. I I'll do it Monday morning. And my chief staff looked at me and kind of smiled and said, "No, you're not. I can do it now." I

was like, "You're right. It's Friday afternoon, but this conversation has to happen now. You can't wait till Monday." And so, I wanted to have the conversation. You know, so even though I preach it

and practice it, it's easy to fall back into that thing of like, I really don't want to do this right now. It's been a stressful day. I'm about to leave. Um, but having a conversation at that moment

was the right thing. Um, and but without her, I probably wouldn't have had at that point. So, you know, it's still something I'm working on because it's easy to fall in that routine of, you know, just

want to get out here and have a good weekend and not have one more tough conversation, but, you know, you have to do it. >> Sure. And then, uh, my second question is, and you already sort of

highlighted the fact that there's diversity in the people that you work with. I know you were mentioning, you know, one select board member that wants to know if Fender Bender happens over the weekend

versus the other one who just, you know, fill me in five minutes before the meeting, right? Yeah. Um, we're a board of five members. We have a very diverse set of opinions and backgrounds. You also

have members of the town that are vocal on, you know, their care and concern for the town. You have the members of the staff in town itself. And then you have your own beliefs, right? And then of

course you always have the gossip train which is Facebook. Uh my question for you is how have you or how would you how would you navigate all of the different opinions and beliefs of the people around

you? all those influences, outside influences while it still utilizing your own beliefs and you know your own initiatives as town manager. >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um, you know, I think like

Milberry Woodstock has a very active um resident group who um have very strong opinions, you know, and let them be known. Um, so I think, you know, I think that there are different parts of this

question. I think one the most important part is you know and it's in your charter is that the site board sets the policy and procedures right so the leadership comes from this board um and so you're

there to kind of give us guidance on how we should tackle certain certain things um so I will look to this board for kind of that original leadership um when it comes down to the staff you know

they're going to be my staff reporting to me um so I take a collaborative approach I want to work with everyone I want to be in a room with a diverse group of people talking over an issue rather than

myself in a room making a decision. Um so I try to bring in you know department heads who are the experts in that field um other people and say hey this is an issue let's talk about this what's the

best way forward um sometimes I'll just grab a random employee and say hey what do you think about this issue like what's your feedback on this um to try to make sure we're getting as versse opinions

as possible um so when it comes to staff I take all that information but at the end of the day it's my decision and I will make the decision I think is best municipality with the information I have um

but I'm going to be honest and transparent with my with the people I'm talking to. So, if my public works director has an opinion on something and I disagree, I'm going tell them why I disagree. I'm

going tell them why I'm going forward with my decision. So, at least they may be upset, but at least they'll know why that decision that decision happened. Um, when it comes to select board and, you

know, maybe disagreements between what I think is right and the board thinks is right. Um, to me, those conversations going to happen privately. Um, I work at the pledge of the select board. I it's

not my I don't think it's my role in the meeting to engage in argument with any board members. Um so I think I will express people to like how I feel, you know, uh to you if I disagree. Uh at the end

of the day, what this board votes on is what's going to happen and it's my job to then implement that regardless of how I feel. Um so I think it's it behooves the public to make sure they know that

I'm working with you and for you. Um so if I had disagreements, you'll hear them. uh but it'll be in a respectful and and uh in a way that I think you'll feel comfortable with going forward. Um with

the public, I think the most important thing is to be out there listening to them, talking to them, being being open to them. Um and and building that trust and relationship with them. Um you know,

again, we did 70 public forums um in a month and a half when we bought the water company. Um when we went to um conserve 355 acres of land that we bought, we held public forums. um and really kind of

engage people on that one-on-one basis. Um you know, even now uh in Peak Foliage, we have tour buses everywhere. I'll just stop a tour bus as people come off, ask them their opinion of Woodstock,

what's going on, how we can do things better. Um so I'm always kind of active with seeking out, you know, opinions where I can get them. Um what I found is there are other Facebook people, there are

other angry people. Um, most people want to be heard. They want to talk to and even if they don't agree with you, if they feel like you listen to them and working with them, you know, they're going to

respect that and come out and support you. Um, there's a a person in Woodstock who we agree on 95% of all the stuff. We verminly disagree on the village bylaws we're trying to update right now. Um,

and we've had very spirited conversations about, you know, what should be done with those bylaws. Um, that person was in my office. um just the other day um I think on Monday um seeking my advice on

whether they should be appointed to the villa trustees, you know, so her and I have very different opinions on certain things, but we built up the trust and relationship that we still trust each other

and and and providing each other and she wanted my advice on what she thinks she could bring to the board if she got she got involved in it. Um so really making sure you're aware of people and have

those conversations. Um I think very helpful. I think also the select board should also be in the community having these conversations with people. So you should be hearing what people want, what

people are thinking of advocating for what you think the board board wants. So when you're making decisions, you know, we can be together and say, "Hey, listen, this is what we think is right. Here's

from the public, you know, now what's the best way forward?" >> Appreciate the answers. >> Thank you. >> If I sorry um I've also tried to find like different ways to communicate. So something we've

done in Woodstock is I've created my own kind of substack substack blog. Um and so sometimes it's just an emergency. Hey, this bridge is closed. Um quick flash. Sometimes it's a long updates of what

we're doing over the last month. What's coming the next week? Here's what's on the agenda next week. Here are the topics. Um I have like an 80% open rate. Um and so that's another way we're trying to

we try to use kind of reach the public in a unique way that they don't kind of normally hear from us. I >> like that. Thank you. Anybody else have any followups? >> Do you have any questions for us?

>> Yes. Uh >> oh boy. Oh no. Um >> not prepared. >> My reputation already. This is not good. >> Where's my notebook? >> Um I I guess first question is like you know what what do you see as your role

in like leading the town? you know, how should the select board kind of what steps should you take to kind of provide the leadership that the town needs? Like what do you think is your role and what

would you want to do to kind of provide that leadership to everyone? >> Start left to right. >> Sure. I gladly answer. Um what what I really enjoy about this board is I think as I was speaking to a

diversity of opinions. I think we have a very well- balanced board where a lot of strengths are offered here from different points of view. So, you know, how I view it is Mary is our most tenured

person here. Um, she's our chair. She's got, you know, the inside track on all things going on in town. She has just a time served in this town that it would take decades for the rest of us to to to

get to that point of. So, it's very good from an influence standpoint being able to have our ears down to the ground with the community input because of Mary. I look at a gentleman like Mr. Gilchrist

over here who just joined our board a couple months ago and he brought a very important part a very important point of view to us which is financial savvy. He's a controller. He brings a very um like

Brian and I speak with passion. I'm I'm Italian you know Nick I know you are too but you know the movement of the hands I when I speak it's impassioned. Mike is very even killed and he does a great

job of just providing a just, you know, this isn't anger or worry. It's it's very even killed. It provides a nice calming uh demeanor when we're talking about things as significant as our financial

goals and and what hurdles we have to tackle. Nick's our idea man. He's a thought leader. I think he comes at it with a very intuitive brain with ways we should be doing things different, ways we can

serve the community better. And I really value Nick's opinion because he brings forth different points of view from outside the box thinking that I otherwise don't look at. I come from an operations

background. So mine is very much so, you know, listen, uh, here's an item that takes five parts to make and you only have five pieces. Go do it. And I have to figure out the way to make it work,

right? So I I'm generally my strengths are suited where it's here are the boundaries, make it the most operationally efficient within those boundaries. Nick, on the other hand, does a a better job

than I do. very much so complements that by being able to um bring forth different points of view on how we could be doing things outside of the bounds that that I generally work in. So it provides a

nice yend to the yang and uh Brian and I think are a lot alike as well. He comes from a very technical background. So if I'm, you know, theory, he's practiced. He's done it. He's been on the front

lines and he's got that technical brain to really be able to see things through. Um, the ideas say that I have and and I think us together, we really formulate a really nice and coalesed bond here

where we are providing different facets to what we need to do to serve our town. So to answer your question, um I think it it depends on the town, but for us, we've pretty much armed ourselves of like

a I hate to use a very dumb pun, but like an Avengers of like like just different points of view on ways to serve the town. So >> I you know what, you answered it if I answered it. I don't know. I

don't need to add anything. What a nice love letter to the board, too. >> Wow. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I guess my next question is you know I think what steps um should the town take and

maybe this board as well to kind of create the stability care that I think everyone wants. Um so what have you thought about like when you have a new town manager whoever it is um you know what steps

will you take? What steps will uh should you take you think kind of make sure that person is here supported and able to be here long term to kind of give the guidance. >> Keep your fingers crossed for

that. Yeah, >> I've been through eight in 13 years. Um, that's what we're looking for is stability here. Somebody that wants to stay and help the town grow. I mean, like, you know, we get I always I

went to an MMA conference and they asked, you know, how could I sell my town? And I'm like sitting there like, oh, I don't know. Well, I have two exits off the mass bike. That's why I can sell my

town. I mean, we got a booming mall up the street. You know, we just opened a new restaurant today. You know, that's how I I want this to be a boom in town. And I want stability. I want stability in

the town hall with personnel. I mean, it's hard for them. I I know you reached out to them because they all called me and asked if it was okay if I could talk to you. >> The dog house with them. Okay,

great. No. But I want stability. I want someone that wants to stay here for well that, you know, I have two more years left sitting in this seat if I stay on or if I don't. But I want someone to love

the town as much as the five of us do. >> And Wilson, >> I mean to add to that, I think a bottomup approach from the candidate is very important, right? So looking for someone to really come in,

assess what's going on with the town, not just in town hall, but outside of these walls, right? >> We do have some positions that are open. I don't know if they have to be backfilled. Um I don't know

what that looks like. I'm not in the day-to-day of it, right? So someone to really come in, take a look, make that assessment inside and out, report back, right? How are we doing? Again, build from

the bottom up. Um, two things very important to me are are budget. You know, you hit a lot of a lot of the uh same feelings that I have in terms of the financial standing of of the town right now. Um,

so that was very good. And then, you know, another big thing for me is a capital plan. So, you know, I think it was what, two years ago, we had an override for a roof. I mean, I I look at a roof and I

I say that thing should be there 30, 40 years. How is this a surprise to us? why are we why are we doing an override for this? Um, so I think it's very important for the town to get a capital plan in

place. So, you know, I tend to be like Brian said, you know, a little more on the finance side. Budget's very important to me. That capital plan's very important to me. But I think, you know, as a

board, when we look at what's going on in town hall, I I think there's a lot of discourse that really needs to be reported on from the bottom up, and it's going to be fixed from the bottom up. So, you

know, as a board, I think we're going to support whoever ends up in that position. Um, but we really need that good picture of what's truly going on. >> I just want to say I I appreciate your

commitment to transparency. I think that's one of the most important things when you're trying to build trust within a community. It's all about transparency. And I I appreciate that you've um

discussed that a little bit tonight. Um, and I also appreciate this newsletter that you've taken upon yourself to share out to to folks who are engaged and and probably will care to read that because

it's important about, you know, when you're trying to um, communicate what's going on and in a way that's thoughtful and um, engages folks who really do want to be involved in some capacity or just

want to read it on a Sunday and know what's going on in town. Um, I also appreciate um, you know, something I come from the school committee um, prior to being a board selectman member um, in that I

appreciate your background in in school budgets and understanding how that works and um, the school is currently in a transition phase right now where we had a long-term veteran um, school budget. Um,

I I he's he's like putting on the green probably still at nine o'clock at night is Rick Baddard who is just a wizard with finance and balancing that budget. Um, so I couldn't, you know, I think that

while we're in that transition period, I really do appreciate that background and I think that is going to be a challenge going forward, that's something I hear a lot from residents. Um, and that's

something I I think is on the priority um, list as well. But um that's that's another part of I think where we we really um can appreciate how we would support a town manager is really looking at it

um in a multifaceted way um through partnership with other various departments across our our town. >> Um if I have time for one more I'm not sure what the time limit is. Um but I guess what are the

top priorities for this board you know going forward for the next like two three years? What do you see as like the things that should be focused on and time and finance should be focused on? >> Bill,

as a resident, I'm going to say lower my tax bill. >> That's right. Budget forecast. >> That's huge. Knowing what's uh apples and oranges and figuring out what's going to be the best course for us

because we're in >> mess right now. So >> yeah, I would say budget personnel within town and and HR from an HR standpoint, you know, steadying that boat and then uh fire department. I would like to

see a strong fulltime chief. >> Yeah, sir. >> Uh is there anything else about me you want to know that we haven't covered or any other question? >> No. >> Well, thank you very much time. I very much

appreciate it. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you coming down. >> I am kind of slighted that you didn't stop at the ice cream store. >> So, I thought about it and then I was like, is that too

much? Is that if I if I show up without what the >> and I had to work till 5:00, so I would have been there. >> Well, I'll stop by. >> >> That was kind of my joke in the interviews. I asked, "Do you

like ice cream or >> Thank you again. >> Okay, so we can do one or two things. I left this on I put this on the agenda for Tuesday. If we want to take time, you want to make a decision tonight, that's

up to the board. >> I I think we take the time. I think even if in your mind you have a decision, it's something as big as this. Go home, sleep on it, take a couple days, unwind. >> Okay, >> let's

recap. >> That's why I put it on the agenda. The other thing we'll have to discuss is negotiating contract. So probably do it, you know, two of us do it and then we can go into executive session. I

didn't put it on for the 13th, but that's something we can put on for the other meeting, but >> absolutely. I mean, I would say this, I I'd feel comfortable burning some more time discussing it

together as a group. I would agree >> because if we are if we do come to a consensus I think then we can I also agree Mike that I don't think we need to rush it if we get to the point 45 minutes from

now and it seems like >> it warrants more discussion we do >> with I I do like kind of while it's all fresh and we've had the conversation I mean we we we were given a >> a good amount of information

to work on also too so I do feel pretty well you know um familiarized >> it's past my bedtime I have like a drop of coffee left for Maybe a five minute recession then. >> Yeah. >> No. Okay. >> Yeah,

that'd be good. >> Five five minute recess. >> Okay. >> Waters and then we'll get back into it. >> Perfect. >> So, Max, could we do a five minute recession? I have to apologize because I called Max

the wrong name earlier. Then we kind of had fun with it. But >> thanks, Lance. Oh, >> Lance, I like that one. Where? Where is it? Okay. Who wants us to have the discussion? >> Got the strong opinions.

>> The opinions. Yeah, exactly. Opinions. >> Do we want to go candidate by candidate? >> Sure. >> Do you want me to I can kick us off with the first candidate? >> Sure. and we can kind of take it

person by person, give thoughts and feedback and then kind of work our way through everyone. Um I think the um the qualities I found in the first person number one just I felt that um Tom so I'm

talking about Tom just so everyone is clear >> um I felt that um he had extensive government experience he under I think one of the highlights of his candidacy that I really appreciated was also he

has served where we have served >> and I appreciated that one of his most important comments that that struck me during um his interview was understanding not only just his side of his role, but

understanding our side. And I find that usually leaders who have that sort of um an understanding of what we we do um as board members usually succeed quite well as town managers and and leaders. And

that was one of the first things I took away from it. I felt that he also had sort of the the you know how some folks have the personality for it. I felt that his personality where he seemed very

calm, very collected, organized his thoughts very well um and his responses was was really um impressive. I think some folks can get a little anxious under pressure. I feel like that is not going to

be a problem. um to me usually in an interview process when you're able to express yourself and what you've accomplished and how you did that um will translate well to when we might need him at town

meeting to explain something really difficult or challenging to the general public and that's something that I was looking at um with how he spoke. Um so those are just my initial impressions and I'll

be the floor to everyone else. >> I I mean I would echo a lot of the same sentiment, Nick. I think that um a lot of the things that he touched on also from an experience level are things that I

highlight as priorities of ours. So financial management, capital planning, those are very important things for Milbury in my opinion. Um his experience right now navigating the issues with their fire

department speaks right now from myself where my position stands with the fire department and the work that we need to put in there. And uh from his management style as well, I like the collaborative

approach. He seems very straightforward. I think um there's an emphasis there on developing people, empowering the people that he works with. And I think that's going to be important here. I think

that what I want to see in our next town manager is not just somebody who knows it all, but also somebody who's able to help everybody else learn and be just as, you know, adept at all the different

skills that they're going to need to succeed here. And I think that um I think that Mr. Beij offers that. >> Yeah. And I I would echo a lot of what you know both of you had already said. Um you know I

think one thing that sticks out as we go through the candidates and and you look at a role like this out of the three candidates if you look at a town manager position he's probably the greenest. Um,

with that said, I think there's one thing that I do like about him is that offers opportunity to grow with the town, right? Um, he's not set in certain ways. He doesn't have a certain form that he

necessarily has done this in before. Um, I think you would be able to come in and adapt nicely to the people um, people in process of the town, learn it and grow with the town. opposed to just it

maybe being a stop on your career map. >> Yeah. And I think with that, you know, greenness per se, it's incumbent on you to be able to work collaboratively with the other department heads because

again, you're going to need people but a strong support system around you to grow. And so I find that also with where say the greenness or lack of experience may be, it's not necessarily in the spots

that I would fear that they are. you know, again, financially, I think experience with procurement and grants are jumping out at me. Um, you know, and I'll say this, too, there's there's something to

be said about titles for sure and and where experiences are, but to say that you are say the leader of a, you know, smaller a town that's that's the fifth of the size of ours versus the number two at

a place that's at the same level or more, you know, all needs to get factored in here. So, to say that as well. >> I like the fact that he was everything I had told Richard that I was looking for in a

town manager. Um, another fact he lives the next town over. Um, and he also was administrative assistant and knows how to process liquor licenses. And I think that's very important right now. well

spoken and he has very good enthusiasm also. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Doesn't seem like he gets rattled easily. >> It It was interesting too because I will say he did sway my opinion. I won't say which

place he's in yet. Um but coming into this, you know, I kind of went through and I had a rank of who I thought might fit best >> and uh he he was not near the top. He was actually my my last choice.

Um but I will say he has substantially moved from there. Um, just to add to the conversation, I hope I'm not interrupting. >> No, go ahead. Okay. Um, I just wanted to highlight some of the other

responses that I found really important. Number one, when he talked about his six-month plan, um, looking at it, that is exactly what I would imagine logically would be a strong six-month plan for

this town. um capital looking at capital planning coming to a capital planning meeting speaking with the department heads going to the school committee going to finance committee he he says that's my

first two days so when he said I was like oh that's like your first two days that's amazing I thought that would be your first like four weeks that's >> so that was music to my ears that he seems

ready to hit the ground running um with building these relationships with other boards and other stakeholders in the community um he defined his communications process us with the board, with

department heads. Um, and I will say also I found that the question that I asked about mentorship. Um, I appreciated I learned that three examples is a little is a lot, but he had them, you know, and

he knew exactly who he impacted. And I think when you're looking at a leader to be able to site exactly the individual that he brought with him was able to encourage and and carry carry their um story

today is so important because that means he didn't forget them. You know, I think that when you have a a long career and you meet a lot of people, you can forget people along the way. And I just found

that the fact that he was able to site such specific individuals that he had worked with was profound because you know he's a he's had a very long career in large city in a larger city that went from

a town to a city and now in a smaller community you meet a lot of people along the way. So I just wanted to also say that as well. >> I thought he answered my scenarios probably the strongest out of

all three in my opinion just what I threw at him. I thought he he was very methodical about it and I I really liked how he answered those. >> I I'll I'll actually build off that to lead in. Are we >>

good on on um to build off that I think that one of the answers to your hype to your scenarios with the next candidate Jeff uh I appreciated which was just he or what I saw is I could tell a finance

guy from another finance guy because like when I was talking about you know I can tend to be say verbose and impassioned with my speak. He definitely was a lot more matterof fact in some of the

answering of the questions in an even killed way. And it was just again matter of fact that I see a lot of like I was saying with you Mike and I was like these two are going to be having a nice

discussion in in a minute or two talking about finances. I think that I mean this you can't argue against his resume. has an immense you know um level of experience not only in finance itself but in

managing in town management in public administration you know certainly on paper he's he's got a wealth of experience and I think that you know it's it's admirable I I I have to say it's in dealing

with my limited experience all of three years now which feels like 30 at times uh you know in all all the things that get thrown at you between changes in the town changes in the leadership that are

leading you you know all the things I speak to um having the legs to go as long as you do in this type of a lengthy career I mean it's it takes having confidence in yourself it takes having you know a

backbone it's not for the faint of heart and so I commend Mr. bridges on, you know, again, successfully navigating the public sector as long as he has and what seems to be as success as successfully

as he has. >> He's methodical, too. Yeah. Taking a step back and finding out the answers. He's he's been he's been through it definitely. >> I think what stood out to me in um the second candidate, so

Mr. Bridges, um I I thought that his question about um union negotiation was very methodical. Um, I thought that he seemed very prepared. I liked that he also understood um the I he said this key

phrase which was reasonable, reasonable, reasonable. Everyone can come to an agreement when things are reasonable. And I was like, well, that's exactly how this works. So, he has a very fair

understanding of how these negotiations work. He's done them before. I thought that his his qu his his answer on that was extremely solid. Um it seems that he has a very operational background which

um is very helpful for what we need. He was very um upfront about the budget. I thought that he um also came at this uh in a very professional way of explaining what he thought was working and what

wasn't and how we could improve it. Um and it seems to me that um his response to his strengths and weaknesses were also very well put together. um you know and I think that his answers um overall

just um he he provided me comfort knowing that he has a lot of um wealth of experience and knowledge that comes from so many different positions throughout his career. Um and I think that I'm really

curious to to know what anyone else thinks. Those are those are my first impressions of >> those are mine too. Um, when I first read his resume, I was just like, "Okay, got the job." You know,

because, you know, especially where he's the finance director, the HR and Spencer. Um, I love his community outreach. He in his interview he belong goes to like all these Rotary clubs, I think he

said. and you know him and his wife do all the community events that they can and I think that's important but I I did like his financial background >> and I think when when you bring up the um

talking about collective bargaining is something that stuck out to me that he said also and I think it's it's something we all know when you've been through negotiations but not always everybody

externally you know or people that haven't been in that type of environment is, you know, it'd be easy for somebody to sit here and say, "Listen, I'm going to negotiate. It's the town's going to win

100% down the line. Don't worry, we got them." You know what something he said was he he was putting himself in the shoes of the other people on the other side. And when talking about the union

representatives, he said, you know, you need to show those those folks need to show representation by their union leaders, talking about the individual union members. And I think that's eloquently

put. I think it's it's reasonable and I think that demonstrates somebody who's got the experience in negotiating and understands that we need to find common ground to a degree and understand where the

motives are for the people that are on the other side. And if you can't do that, it's going to be hard for you to get somewhere in a negotiation. >> 100% agree. >> No, and I' I'd echo I'd echo a lot

of the same. Um I mean his resume is impressive. I think Jeff's I mean he he could probably step in here and do the job tomorrow. Um the only thing that I the only thing that I'd worry about, right,

because he had all the right answers, his resume is good, he's got the experience, he's been doing it a while. The only thing that stuck out to me was when we were talking about, you know, I think it

was Brian's scenario question or maybe it was it was either Brian or Nick that asked the question, but what would you do in this conflict, right? And it was, well, it it wasn't a very long

explanation. It wasn't, oh, well, we'll sit, we'll talk about this. It's it was almost immediately to disciplinary action and then if we have to we'll remove the employee and the only worry I have

with that because right when you get to a certain point I don't necessarily disagree right if it comes to that point it comes to that point I thought it got there very quickly and I think the amount

of discourse that's going through town hall currently I I think just needs a little gentle hand on it. >> Um, other than that, I mean, that was talking to him, looking through his resume, that's the

only thing that stuck out. >> That was a good That's a very good observation. I I um picked up on that and I I wasn't sure if I should express that, but I think I just felt that that that I will say

that response felt rather clinical corporate places. Yeah. So I I will say this to that end is I think that right now you're not wrong that you know the current environment where we're standing I

think that we're all hoping that some dust is settling with town hall with the turnover and everything. I think that if we were having this conversation 3 four years ago and understanding where we

were at that point and some decisions that needed to get made that would have come in handy. And so I think that I'm holding that with a grain of rice because as I saw that I saw that as somebody

who's willing to make the hard decision >> even if it or make the right decision even if it's the hard decision. So again I think I think there's it's it's that's what I appreciate about this board.

It's two people hearing the same sentence and having a different point of view on it or seeing it from different sides. >> I think the biggest thing is make sure they're not in the union. >> Well, for

sure. And there's there's navigating that. But I think but I think that to that type of end what I think of when I when I hear that is we're not making decisions based on emotion which is that's where

you're generally going to run into problems like that. It's a matter of you know a lot of things with when you're dealing with unions it's it needs to be by the book where it's just matter of factly

hey here's the here's what the responsibilities are and if something happens or if there's a code of conduct and if you are uh breaking the rules of the code of conduct then said thing needs to

happen. So, um, I I I definitely hear your guys concern on that, too. And I think timing is important on that. And I think that's what we need to consider. I think you bring it up rightly so that

there's different administrations, there's different things that are in front of a town um, three years from now will be different than what it is now and three, four years ago. So, um, I think you're

right to to bring that up. Uh, I will say, you know, you speaking of things that you could view either as a pro or as a con. I'm sure all the people that I'm seeing that are on the finance committee

as well could in out there, anybody that's financially minded would sit here and say to yourself, well, we're getting a town manager, a finance director, an HR director, and a deputy assistant town

manager under one budget. That sounds great for, you know, while we're talking about financials and and planning out our budget, especially while we've narrowly avoided overrides the last year or two.

I think I'm a con to that. What I do worry is that when you put all of your eggs in one metaphorical basket, you are at the whims of that person. What I don't love about that response or that is that

>> I think >> I would like to see the culture here become that of empowerment and I want to see collaboration. I want to see delegation of tasks. I don't want just one silo with which we're all, you

know, banking on um handling everything successfully. I think that um you know with department heads that have left, we know now more than ever, you know, the struggles that come with that for

everybody else to have to carry that that burden if if that person leaves. So I I it kind of flies in the face of where I think we I would like to see our town go with these departments and yeah, I

think that's again you could view that one way or the other. >> I would agree with that. >> I would too. I I mean at first your first thought, you know, you're reading it all. >> That sounds great. >>

You love to save the money, right? Like if it came down to just dollars, that's great. >> I didn't even look at it that way. >> You have no >> You're right. >> It's it's too there's too much liability

in one person to do the to do those positions. And at the same time too, as much as it would look attractive, it makes it begs one to question, you know, is there, you know, you don't want there to be

a reason why someone is totally in control of all of those facets of of of the key and core functions of our government. I think having multiple stakeholders with varying opinions and different

expertise coming into the fold would be really important. >> I think especially >> Yes. Especially separating I mean you look at any good company your CEO is not doing your finances. Separating

finance and operations is the best thing that you can do because you need someone looking at it from both fronts >> just like the board. >> Yeah. You don't want to have that one unified idea of this

is how it has to be that I don't want to call it combative energy but those two different viewpoints are extremely beneficial. >> You need that. You do. >> Okay, Nick. Might as well stand third one

since >> Okay, Mr. Duffy, um just some um observations. Um I appreciated um number one, uh his response to um uh Miss Selectman Tag's question about uh the conflict resolution. I thought that was very

it made sense to me. It was very in line with what our first candidate had said. Um I felt that he had a strong response to that. Um I think the other part of this that I liked uh was that um he had I

had mentioned it publicly already before. I like that he had worked with 8 to nine um different ne uh negotiations with the fire, the DPW, town staff. So he he has worked on several um union union

negotiations which I find um to be profound especially given the time that he's been in government. Um he he's been in government a little bit less but I mean to have the kind of turnover um I mean

not turnover excuse me the the challenges that he had to face in such a short period of time I find that pretty impressive um to be able to do all those contracts. Um the other really important part

is he did recognize uh again similar to the first candidate about how the um the motivations behind some of the staff as well. Um I think his response to um off uh to the first six months and wanting

to hold public office hours is really um impressive. I appreciated that. I think that's really important. Um, and then also wanting to display monthly um, financial statements on the website is really

strategic and building trust uh, with the community, not to mention his Substack, which I think is a really unique way of trying to engage the community. Um, I thought that that was really creative.

Um, the other thing I found um, important that he mentioned too was identifying again that one employee that really stuck out to him that he mentored. She said, "I'm just there for my insurance for 10

years." and she lo and behold became a town treasurer. Um and she he encouraged her to go to an MMA conference learn not conference or training um learn more about um that role and how she could um

you know become successful uh in other facets of the government. Um but I think overall I was impressed with his financial acumen. I appreciated that he's worked in um school budgets and I think as

the schools are in a financial transition from Rick um to a new financial um I don't want to say wizard but you know someone who has to he hasn't reached wizard status yet. He has to be here as long

as Rick has um in Milbury. Um to be able to work in a school budget is very tricky. I appreciate it. He's done it before and came in at that angle. And I think that that would be both beneficial to

the school department and to our board as well in making sure that we can tighten up what's going on with our next fiscal year budget. Um that's that's it for me for right now. I >> mean, he enjoyed

the whole day in Milbury today. >> Generally enjoyed it. >> Immersed himself. >> Um great with personnel, it seems. Strong union negotiation skills. realistic with our budget. The way the town is

right now, he's very realistic to us, is transparent, and he's already talking with people around the community. I thought that was some good key, you know, things that strike me. >> Yeah. in in in

reading some of his background and the references that we got, somebody had had described him as loyal, kind, open, affable, dedicated, and then just with our short time speaking with him, I've never

met somebody more befitting of a term, affable, than that man. It's he's friendly, he's approachable, he's easy to talk to. So, I mean, yeah, I think you can see that personified in his approach to

how today went, right? He immersed himself in the town. He went around listened to the people at lo at, you know, at Pizza Chef. I I think that that would probably be indicative of his approach, which

is that of a listener. It's somebody who's ingraining himself in the community that he's serving. Um, and I think that's a great a great person to have in your town. You know, high emotional

intelligence is is important. I think that one other thing that kind of that was brought up through the references thing and the background information that we had was that there was an incident that

had happened to him with a with another part of the town over there. And you know, I'm sure it's it's all out there in the public as well. He was speaking to when I had asked him about strengths and

weaknesses about doing the easy thing versus doing the right thing. And the one thing I I do want to commend this man for doing is it was a very what had happened in that town, the incident that took

place and the fallout since then and understanding the repercussions that were going to fall out from that takes conviction to make the type of decision that he made. So, I just want to commend him

for acting on his, you know, um, his heart, his conscience. And I I would say that it's, you know, I I appreciate him being so um, you know, modest as to say that there's some human nature here where

there's like little things about doing the easy thing. And I think that applies to all of us, right? That's, you know, um, maybe doing one last email before you leave work. But when it come to came to

a big topic like what happened there with the the police chief and everything, I mean, he operated under doing what he thought was the right thing to do. So, I just wanted to say that I think that

takes, you know, uh that takes a very strong willed person, somebody very strong in their convictions. You don't find that that often and I commend him for that. >> Oh, absolutely. And I I would echo

all that. I think, you know, out of all of them, you know, you had bridges came in. He had the answers down to the percent down to the okay, here's what this is in terms of the finances. I think the

most honest person in terms of finances was Duffy. >> Um he came right out and said it, hey, here's where we stand. Here's how you're looking. Um so I I did really appreciate that. Uh, I thought he

had some good follow-up questions, which none of the others really did. They had, you know, Jeff actually had some, but he was prepared to ask ask them, which I I look for when I'm interviewing

outside of here, right? Um, don't just come in, sit in front of me, and say, "Okay, give me your questions, and I'm going to leave. What What do you want to know?" Um, so I thought that was actually

commendable of of both of them. I'm sure maybe Jeff would have kept going, too. if we had let him. Uh but yeah, and that that's that's really it. I mean, I think we have three candidates. I think, you

know, when I look at them, you have the one that would grow with the town, the one that could step in and just do it. Um and then one that I think has that maybe more of a finance acumen to say, you

have a problem, let's deal with it. um as opposed to just giving the statistics on it. So you might have a uh someone who could do the job, someone who will grow with the town and maybe what the town

needs, but I don't know. >> I I think that and one last thing I I will put on for prayers for Eric is he mentioned OPED and that he was concerned about the 1% which I know you two you five or you four

have probably been annoyed with me harping on this during negotiations that we we we're just getting it from 0.5 to one. if I had my way, it'd be more. So, it just felt a little validated hearing

somebody else also just not again, it's just seeing how infeasible that is. Anyways, I digress. Uh, I'll kick off kind of just rounding out these and giving my opinion on where we stand with all

three. I want to first say that first let me just give praise to the selection committee. Mary, thank you. those of you that are in here, Judy and Virginia, Rich, um Ron who was here earlier, and and

you know, Mike, Terry, everybody that was involved in this, these are three very quality candidates. I think that tomorrow, if any one of the three of these people stepped in here, we're going to be

in good hands and that's a very good place to be in. Um this is my, you know, second time doing this and Mary, I know you've had a few more of them and and it's sometimes a rocky road with what you

get whittleled down to this. Um, I I I'm very pleased with the fact that we have three very solid options here because that's not always the case. And it's not often that you get three. Sometimes it's

two and then you have one that backs out and withdraws at the last minute. So, >> um, I I appreciate that and all the time that everybody put in to get us here. how I feel about this. I think that

what's teering me over to the edge on one side is I just I think that I feel the most my heart is telling me that Tom Been is our top choice. I think that he has he has the capabilities in my opinion

out of these to most adequately arm the other department heads and the members in town with succeeding which is what I want to see. I want to see almost any person that you see come and interview is

going to speak to collaboration. I think I've I I see it happen with him and from what I've seen with actin and what the references have said. I think that I can tell in his demeanor it does also feel

collaborative and he that's also matched with a budget the size that Actton has. My concern with Mr. Duffy would be that his budget that he's working with I know he's worked with large budgets in the

past but as a leader of the town uh 10 million is you know kind of Milbury dwarfs that. So I have my concerns there. When I say concern I think it's we're dealing with a you know an A minus versus an

A or an A versus an A+. So um that It's kind of steering me between those two. I really, again, I see Mr. B Bridges as uh, you know, a guru on a lot of things. What's steering me away from that again

is just the structure that's going on over there in Spencer. And I really wanted to see I want to see somebody who's going to be empowering these departments and really utilizing them and

strengthening it so that when turnover happens, not if when turnover happens here, we're not going to be down to just, you know, if if Mr. bridges leaves and we don't have, you know, said department

head or um if there's kind of a big head in the room that's not allowing the other people. We've had a town manager that kept other department heads in the dark and then finally when that person

leaves, these people are all trying to catch up and they've never really been given an opportunity to succeed in their position. Um I my reading is that I think we would get the best of that from Mr.

Bean. Um, and that's why if if it were my decision solely, I can at least tell you where my vote is right now. I would be wanting to move forward with Mr. Pente. >> Do you have an alternate >> or do

we want to start with just the top? >> Let's start with the top. >> Start with the top. >> I'd like to see where you guys are at. >> Okay. I'm the same with you, Brian. Like I said, he was everything

that I wanted in a town manager. Sometimes it's good to start fresh. >> Um, and I like the fact that he's lives next door. Um, and hopefully he'll stay and grow here. That's what I'm looking for. >>

Yeah. >> And he knows how to do the license. >> That'll be a savior for me and Amy. Right, Amy? just to kind of give my thoughts. I think it it's been quite apparent with how I've assessed most of the

candidates tonight is that I also would agree with both of you. I think Mr. Beian is Am I saying that right? I >> I go to begin >> begin. That's what I thought. I'm Oh man. Um but he um number one I

look for communication skills. um just an amazing communicator, direct um was able to express himself to us and work. You know, interviews are tough when you're where you're facing a board, you feel

like you're on trial with that one chair. He crushed it. Um he you would have never known he was nervous at all. Um, I I know that that is a soft skill, but those soft skills are so translatable to

when you're working with the public and you have a hard vote like the vote like with MBTA's community and you have to explain to the public about something that might be unpopular. Those skills are so

important and you can't you can't teach it. You really can't. And I know that you can learn them, but again, those soft skills are something that you have to just kind of have. And I think that his

conflict resolution was spot on. His first six months of our of what he would do in our community, spoton. I felt that his experience, he worked his way from the bottom up. He worked in finance. He

worked as an administrative assistant doing what Amy does, which I think is important. He has a reverence for all that kind of hard work that goes in behind the scenes. He worked in a city. He worked

on a massive transition in that city that could have been that was kind of a little tricky and unpopular. And he has experience at the executive level making really important decisions um especially

when it surrounds capital planning and again he's worked in an operating budget that's very similar to the size of Milbury um and and on par with us. So that's kind of where my my thoughts really are

with with the candidates. I do. I'm going to just jump in and I should have said this. So, in his initial interview, he made sure he looked everybody in the eye, his head, every question. He made sure

he made eye contact with everybody. >> And I think that's important, too. >> Yeah, it's a good observation. >> Yeah. >> I like I like There's two that I really really like. Tom, the way Tom answered

that question though, like first impressions are everything. Just the way and then the way everyone else answered. Not that there's any wrong answer to it, but the way he said it so smoothly in the

hierarchy of how he handled that and who he would call and the way he would go through it within that just that 30 seconds of me asking that question. To your point, Mike, being green, I get it, but

you got to get a shot at some point. You're never going to be able to grow. I was given a shot before and I and I took it and I was very thankful for that. So, I'm I'm torn and twisted, but I think

definitely Tom by a nose. That's my thoughts. >> Yeah. And I I share a lot of the sentiments everybody else does. Um I you really want to like Bridges because he could just step in. >> But I I share

your sentiment. I that I think even though from a budget perspective him handling everything is great, I think that's actually a pitfall. Um I would like to see similar to you divisions. I'd like to

see employees, you know, empowered. Um I just don't get that feeling there. So while the resume is great, I just don't think it's the right person. And maybe we needed that at a at a point in time, I

don't think it's the right person right now. Um, you know, Tom, I think is the exact opposite of that. He is greener. I do think he'll grow with the town. I I would like to think it's not a a stepping

stone for him. Um, but I will say >> as long as it's a 10year stepping stone, >> yeah, but and you know, I I became kind of tied between two, right? So, I became tied between Tom and Eric. >> And I

look at it from two different perspectives. And I say, "Okay, I I think Tom might be that person who's going to be here long term, build those relationships." Um, you know, build that repertoire and

he's going to work with the people of the town. He's going to work with the people in town hall. and and I I could see him really doing something. On the flip side, you know, I I look at Duffy and

yes, his budget is low now, but he's he's worked in a larger municipality. Um I see his ideas and how to handle that as kind of a right now, and maybe it's not a long-term thing, but a right now need

for the town. and I could see him really shaping a few things that that we have going on. Um, I will say one thing that worries me about him and I, you know, I I wish I had I wish I had thought to ask

about it is, you know, the litigations that are ongoing with the actions taken against the police chief. Um, that outstanding does worry me a bit. um it raises some red flags in my mind. So that's

that's one piece that definitely kind of sways me in a in a different direction. Um but I guess to end the meeting, I'd say I'm I'm still tied for two different reasons, but I do share the same

sentiment you guys do and that I I do really like Tom and I I think he would do well long term here. >> Yeah. And I think that, you know, um playing devil's advocate, even what I had to say, you know,

I'm I'm highlighting that the budget that Eric's currently working with right now is closer to 10 million than than where we are versus Actton. You could turn that the other way and say that he is the

leader of that town versus Tom right now who's the number two in that position. So, I think that again, yeah, I my my cap is off to the selection committee because they really did a good job of

bringing three different candidates here that provide three different >> very different things, >> which is would be exactly how I >> wanted this to come. Um, >> I would say this. I think that >> if

you looked at the current Sutton Town Manager's resume three years ago when he was probably first, >> they sit right there. >> I know. Do you want to come tell us about >> his resume would read as one

that says, "Hey, he's lacking an in experience. He's never been a leader." Right. At some point, you need to start at some point. And I look at Sutton right now and I think he's doing a great job over

in Sutton. And I would uh blessing himself. >> Actually, I tried to get him here. I tried so hard. >> Ryan's in a good mood. He's given praise everywhere today. >> And and I just think that I think

that um you know, you can only get so much on paper and I think that there's a lot of value that's there. I tend to try and and again this is why I went into this with I I truly came into this saying,

you know, there's a lot of things that these people are all um boasting about on their resumes. I'm going to give it the time right here and really make my decision in this moment. And again, I I've

in my capacity at what I do, I'm I've onboarded I've start I'm at a company that started at six employees. I was number six. We now have over 60. I've been the one who's hired, fired, managed these

people. and you get reads on people, you know, I know I'm not the only one. Nick, you've got high emotional intelligence. Brian, you do, too. You're great judges of characters. You guys all are. Um, I

see it in Tom. >> And I I see it in every two. I'm just saying that um >> my compass is telling me that he has it's it's time for a gentleman like Thomas to be able to get this opportunity. And I I I

feel confident with the the board that we have to be the ones that can best arm him to become a successful leader of a town. I think that, you know, there's some towns that are just here for the

social hour and it's just saying yes and pass a couple of things, some poll petitions. We're very invested board, you know, and that's not what you get at every single town. And I think that while

somebody may be more on the greener side compared to say some of these resumes, I think that with the convictions that this board has and the types of things that we want to see happen, again, we're

very invested in it. With somebody like Thomas who's on the starting point or this is his first top level job, I think that there's going to be more willingness to hear our points of view and

incorporate wholesale, you know, all of our our goals as well as his. And I I just want to echo that when looking at his resume, you can see that investment directly in the work that he's done where

he is invested in Framingham for over a decade um demonstrating that he's willing to do something more, willing to step up, willing to try new things that are difficult. And I think just um you know I

feel very comfortable and I really do want to you know emphasize um that you know these are we're in a competitive job market where there are people who we might not be the only town that they applied

to or interviewing with and I really want to make sure that we're remaining cognizant because I've lost staff to other competing businesses against mine and I really want to make sure that we are

keeping in mind that we are in a competitive job market right now where um I would be deeply concerned concerned about not making a decision. >> So when we got we had 27 applicants, which I thought

was amazing. And when I would scroll through it, this one gentleman was was a lawyer, you know, had it all. And like two minutes after I got done reading his resume, Rick emailed, he dropped out. Oh

my god. You know, had the same thing happened with Kevin from Shoesbury. I mean, he was we dragged our feet and he didn't come here. So, >> he's a rockstar in Shrewberry. >> He's a rockar. >> So,

procedurally, Madam Chair, if one were to feel compelled to make a motion right now, would that be, you know, a motion to select um said person or would it be to initiate an offer for >> Yes. Well,

Rick can help us with that. My hope is that you would tonight you would identify a preferred candidate >> and an alternative. >> Okay. >> Um and then uh identify two board members. Usually it's the

chair and someone else >> to be a subcommittee for negotiating on behalf of the board. Um, >> if you vote tonight, I will call them, but I hope the chair will also call uh the selected preferred

candidate tonight just to touch base and set up some appointments and get this thing done. >> I'd be watching. I will, you know, I'll stay involved and make sure that um you have a third party in in

there talking to the candidates and making sure that this moves forward for you. >> I would feel comfortable voting tonight. Um but I'm happy to hear others opinions before I >> fine. I I want to get

going. Yeah. >> I mean, it's been a long time coming. I would like to make a motion to select Thomas Beij as our primary um candidate or >> selection >> board >> for the town manager position. I'll

second. >> I'm gonna do a roll call just so >> Michael. >> I >> Nick. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And I'm a yes. >> You want to do one for >> I will. Yeah. I The one thing I don't love about this is I do I I

hate that there's like by selecting two there's an odd man out and that there's a last place. Um and I think that this is kind of just this is in my opinion two runners up. But uh I out of the the

remaining two as an alternate, I would make a motion to um select Eric Duffy as the alternate. >> I'll second that >> for town manager position. >> Okay. Michael, >> yes. >> Brian, >> yes. >> Nick, >>

yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. >> Okay, we are I want to thank the search committee. It was um and Richard White. I thought you did a extremely great job in getting us qualified candidates,

kept us in the loop on everything. We had the best clerk that anybody could ever hire. Oh, wait. It was free. Um, it was this was a good one this time. I my fingers are crossed. I hope. But thank you.

Thank you all for your hard work. Thank you ladies for the sandwiches. They were delicious. and the fire department. If ever you want to use that conference room, that's a really nice room up there.

So, >> you want to identify a negotiating committee? >> Usually, it's the chair and vice chair. >> Yeah. Do do you three feel comfortable with that? >> 100%. >> Do you need a motion? >> Sure. >> I'll

make a motion to nominate uh chairwoman Mary Kick and Vice Chair Brian Sora to the negotiating committee. >> I'll second. And we won't do anything without you guys either because we'll go into

executive session. >> My full blessing, >> right? >> Yeah, you guys are good. >> Okay. >> Um, do do they want do we want to have just those three vote or >> Oh, yeah. I got a vote. Oh, yeah. In a

second. >> Second. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> You know, at this all in favor. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, motion. >> Yeah. Any other final things, sir? Are we good to >> We're good to go. >> Okay, I'll make a

motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second to adjourn. >> All in favor? >> Let me go home. >> I was so excited. I got to go home. My husband's been texting me the whole time.