By Dakota Antelman, Contributing Writer
Hudson – The Select Board green lit plans to eliminate a residency requirement for town executive assistants from the Town Charter in a split vote decision on Dec. 21.
Decided with five votes in favor and one opposed, the proposed amendment capped a meeting that, in turn, pitted questions of history and municipal tradition against some realities of modern life.
Residency requirement dates back to late 1970s
Hudson has required its Executive Assistant to live in town since it drafted an updated charter in the late 1970s.
As sitting Executive Assistant Tom Moses plans his departure early next year, though, the residency requirement has come under scrutiny, with a town consultant saying that it could severely decrease the number of candidates interested in Hudson’s top administrative position.
Some individuals might not want to take a student out of school to move to a new town. Others might burden a spouse by relocating to a community far from their workplace.
Still more might not be able to afford what has rapidly become a booming housing market in Hudson.
Earlier this month, Select Board Chair Joe Durant noted, town assessors announced the average price for a single-family home here had surpassed $400,000.
“In today’s world and day and age, if you have someone who lives in Bolton, Stow, Southborough, Northborough, on and on and on, is it really a necessity to have them move?” Selectman John Parent asked on Dec. 21.
As Parent and Durant specifically said they were in favor of removing a residency requirement, Selectman Fred Lucy cast the lone “no” vote following this debate.
Confusion over executive assistant title
Outside of residency requirements, consultant advice also prompted a debate over the actual name of the executive assistant position, Dec. 21.
Technically defined as an assistant to the Select Board, Hudson’s executive assistant handles many day-to-day tasks of municipal operations.
It’s a job similar, in practice, to that of a town administrator in other communities.
As most other communities using this format of government generally have town managers or town administrators, Hudson is the only community in Massachusetts to use the term “executive assistant.”
That has led to confusion, Moses said. Sometimes, he told the Select Board, he will approach state agencies to coordinate actions like money transfers for municipal projects. From time to time, he will then be met with apprehension or suspicion as state officials question his actual authority.
“It’s more just a perception issue based on the title,” he said.
Town Counsel Aldo Cipriano jumped into the discussion after Moses adding that he, too, encounters such issues.
Now, he generally does not even refer to Moses as Hudson’s executive assistant in professional conversations outside of town. For ease of communication, he calls him a “town administrator.”
Consultants say this isn’t as severe an issue in the hiring of a new executive assistant as the residency requirement is. Still, they concede, it could discourage some candidate who would be worried about how such a term could appear on their resumes later in their administrative careers.
Executive assistant title to stay the same for now
While the Select Board approved the process of removing that residency requirement, the name of the executive assistant won’t actually be changing for now.
The Select Board opted not to vote on Dec. 21, seeking to preserve the original intent of Town Charter authors who named the executive assistant to expressly preserve the authority of Select Board members as the primary executives of town government.
Moving through the hiring process for Moses’ successor, consultants say they’ll simply explain the executive assistant position as being “akin to a town manager’s role.”
Plans to remove the executive assistant residency requirement from the Town Charter will now cycle between Cipriano’s office and the Select Board over the coming months before ultimately going before Town Meeting for final approval.
