Wayland Select Board launches town administrator search with September target

WAYLAND -- April 9, 2018, Wayland Select Board launches town administrator search aiming for a September hire. Consultants Bernie Lynch and Sharon Flaherty of Community Paradigm Associates laid out a timeline targeting a July 23 selection and early-September start, with a five- to seven-member screening committee to be appointed by April 30 and a community forum the week of April 23. Lynch, a former Lowell city manager, said 15 to 18 manager positions are open statewide, including in Weston, Bedford and Acton, and described recent applicant pools of 28 in Natick and roughly 37 in Oxford. Board member Doug Levine asked whether retirements were driven by aging or "the job becoming just more and more of a pain"; Lynch said "probably a little bit of both." The board also reached consensus to outsource flexible spending account administration, currently charged at $4 per employee, with vendor quotes between $3.50 and $5, and voted 5-0 to approve the consent calendar.