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By Laura Hayes, Contributing Writer
Hudson – The Town of Hudson has a new Executive Assistant.
That’s thanks to a unanimous decision by the Select Board to tap Thomas Gregory, who is currently the Town of Spencer’s Town Administrator, for the prominent position, March 22.
“This was a puzzling one for me,” Select Board Member James Quinn said during his board’s meeting to formally chose between three finalists for their town’s chief administrative position.
Quinn said this choice was hard because the finalists were evenly matched.
“But it was an easy choice,” he added, “because…looking forward for the Town of Hudson, I don’t think we could have gone wrong with any of the three that we had,” Quinn said.
Gregory takes local career path to Hudson
Gregory earned a bachelor’s degree in classics from College of the Holy Cross and a master’s in public administration from Clark University.
Prior to his current position in Spencer, Gregory served as the assistant town administrator in Walpole, the assistant to the town manager in Shrewsbury and the director of supportive housing in Worcester.
Gregory, who is from Central Massachusetts, said during his public interview with the board on March 16 that his family visits Hudson and loves Rail Trail Flatbread Co.
“[This is] a town marked by stability — fiscal stability, stability in the position of executive assistant, and stability…[in] the cadre of professional dedicated employees,” Gregory said during his public interview.
Select Board’s decision caps long process
The search for a new executive assistant began after Hudson’s current assistant, Tom Moses, announced that his plans to retire, last year. His last day is now set for May.
An Executive Assistant Search Committee began meeting, quickly culling a list of 33 applicants to 17. In Mid-March, they narrowed the list, again, to three finalists, Gregory; Ryan Ferrara, who is the Boxborough Town Administrator; and Nina Nazarian, who works in the Office of Special Projects in Medford.
Before selecting Gregory, Board members each first voiced their support for one candidate.
That initial verbal poll revealed some disagreement within the legislative body.
Select Board members Scott Duplisea, John Parent and Quinn voted for Gregory while members Joseph Durant and Fred Lucy voted for Ferrara.
“I think we were presented with three tremendous candidates,” Durant said, nodding towards now imminent contract negotiations. “I’m hoping we will be able to work something out and get this position filled.”
Lucy and Duplisea will now take point in those negotiations as members of a contract negotiation subcommittee they formed with colleagues, March 22.
