NORTHBOROUGH – The search for the next town administrator may begin around Labor Day.
In late July, the Select Board announced that Courtney Friedland had withdrew from consideration to become Northborough’s next town administrator. The board offered her conditional employment on July 6.
During the July meeting, there was consensus among Select Board members to continue to use Municipal Resources Inc. for the search. The consulting firm had conducted the first search.
At the July 31 meeting, the board discussed whether to begin a second search immediately or to wait.
Select Board Chair Mitch Cohen suggested that the town wait to begin to start the search until early September and allow the candidate pool to refresh.
“[That would] get us out of the summer season when maybe people are thinking more about jobs and less about summer vacations,” he said.
“It makes sense to take a little breather, especially since August [is when] families are on vacation or getting children ready for school,” said Select Board member Julianne Hirsh.
Plus, the screening committee may have summer plans, too, she added.
Cohen said that MRI can and is expected to begin looking for a new interim town administrator in the anticipation that current interim Bob Reed may want or need to leave before a permanent administrator joins the town.
Cohen noted that Northborough’s charter limited the duration of an interim town administrator to six months.
“I imagine if we needed to keep an interim – whether it be Bob or anybody else – longer, we could probably figure out some way to do that,” he said.
