LAKEVILLE – The Lakeville Select Board expressed enthusiasm for new Human Resources Director Lacey Marshall, but argued over the details of her salary during the meeting on Monday, Oct. 30.

Select Board members Brian Day and Lorraine Carboni voted to appoint Marshall to her position. The third board member, Lia Fabian, abstained from the vote.

Marshall said that she had worked in the military for twenty three years and moved to Lakeville a year ago. “I do like that I’m serving my own community,” she said of her new role in Lakeville.

“My plan is to get settled in [and] understand what the expectations of me are,” Marshall said. “Then I will go to the police department, the fire department, the [department of public works], I’ll make my rounds to see what their needs are and go from there.”

Town administrator Ari Sky said that a panel had interviewed multiple candidates for the Human Resources Director position. The panel “unanimously” recommended Marshall for the position, Sky said.

At the meeting, Fabian expressed concern about Marshall’s $92,298 salary. “Frankly, I am just not in favor of a [$92,298] salary for any human resource manager.” She added that she thought Marshall was a strong candidate for the job. “I’ve talked to everybody. Everybody thinks the candidate is amazing,” Fabian said.

Sky said that Marshall’s salary was determined by a salary scale used by the town and that the board had approved that salary scale. “You approved the salary through the wage scale,” Sky said.

Although the job posting for the position identified Marshall’s wage scale, Fabian said that she should have been told the dollar amount that Marshall would be paid. 

Fabian added that she thought there should be a specific conversation about what salary to offer Marshall. 

“So in the absence of a salary conversation, we just say it doesn't matter who the person is, we’re just going to give them what the previous person was making?” Fabian asked.

Sky said that this was a standard practice for setting salaries.

“That’s generally how job classifications work,” Sky said. “You create a salary scale for every position.”

Day said that Fabian could have asked a question about the salary earlier in the hiring process. 

“Everyone here is free to engage with the Town Administrator between meetings and ask questions,” Day said.

Fabian said that the information should have been provided regardless of whether someone asked a specific question about the dollar amount of Marshall’s salary.

Before voting to appoint Marshall, Day expressed discomfort about the board meeting.

“Ms. Marshall, I apologize you are witnessing this right now,” Day said.