Approach debated for Middleboro interim town manager search

MIDDLEBORO -- Select Board members debated at their Feb. 2 meeting whether to expand the search for an interim town manager or make a decision more quickly. 

Two candidates have submitted letters of interest: Former Middleboro Police Chief Joseph Perkins and town Facilities Manager Matthew Foye. 

The interim town manager would temporarily replace departing Town Manager James McGrail, who is leaving Middleboro for the town administrator post in Harwich. His last day is March 4. 

Before the two letters were received, Perkins was mentioned as a potential candidate by Select Board member William Pike at the board’s Jan. 20 meeting. Pike said then that he had reached out to Perkins, who he said was willing to accept the position. 

At the Feb. 2 meeting, Select Board member Theresa Farley questioned bringing Perkins’ name into the discussion before anyone had officially applied. 

That “has not been sitting well with me,’’ she said. “This feels very much like this has [already] been done and we haven’t even had a chance to discuss this as a board.’’ 

Pike said he mentioned Perkins’ name because he was enthusiastic about the possibility of the former chief taking the position. But he said he was always willing to consider other candidates. 

Town resident Diane Fay said “it looks like it’s been pushed down our throats’’ because Perkins’s name was brought up before an initial process was developed. 

Select Board member Thomas White countered that making a decision sooner rather than later would give the interim manager time to spend with McGrail before his departure. 

He clapped back at claims that Perkins’ name in the mix would discourage  other potential candidates. 

“If someone is intimated by the name of Joe Perkins, I don’t want that person’’ in the position, White said. 

The board is “moving a little fast,’’ resident Tracie Craig-McGee said.  She encouraged the board to reach out through the Massachusetts Municipal Association for potential candidates. 

“There are a host of people who do this kind of work,’’ she said, some of whom are retired town managers. The interim position could serve six months or a year, depending on when a new town manager is selected, she noted. 

White and Pike noted that only two candidates have applied. 

McGrail had been asked to reach out to department heads to seek potential interest in the interim job. He cited Director of Planning and Community Development Leeann Bradley, Police Chief Robert Ferreira, Town Accountant Susan Nickerson and Assistant to the Town Manager Robert Mulcahy as suitable candidates for the position.

A potential decision on the interim town manager post will be made at the Feb. 9 Select Board meeting.