Select Board pitches town manager overhaul at fourth community forum

WAYLAND -- August 6, 2019, Wayland Selectmen pitch a town manager overhaul, citing fragmented finances and compliance gaps. At a fourth community forum Tuesday, Selectman Lee Anderson and Chair Cherry Karlson presented a draft special act that would replace the town administrator with a town manager holding consolidated authority over a roughly $90 million operation, designate that manager as chief financial officer, shift union negotiations from the volunteer personnel board, and convert the town clerk from elected to appointed. Anderson quoted the 2018 Collins Center finding that town financial management "is severely fragmented in a way that reduces the town's efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency." The current administrator has about 20 direct reports and six department heads appointed by other boards. The draft would also rename the Board of Selectmen the Select Board. No vote was taken; town meeting will eventually decide.