Bourne Assistant Offered Town Administrator Job

            Before Tuesday’s interviews, it was not certain that by week’s end the Rochester Select Board would pick a successor to Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar, but board member Woody Hartley wanted to go right after it when the four finalists had finished the process and at least share initial impressions.

            “This is fresh in my mind,” he said.

            As it turned out, Hartley and fellow Select Board members Paul Ciaburri and Chairman Brad Morse needed little conversation to realize they share a strong belief that Glenn Cannon is the right person for the job.

            “I was very comfortable with his answers … I think he’s a great candidate,” said Hartley, noting that Cannon’s engineering and project-based experience will be of timely benefit as the Town of Rochester planned just last week to form a committee to conduct a feasibility study that it is hoped will lead to construction of a new or upgraded facilities for the town’s Police and Fire departments.

            Szyndlar will step down as town administrator on June 30 but remain with Rochester in the newly created position of Finance Director. She has also been serving as town accountant.

            Citing “no reason to move onto a meeting on Friday,” Morse said, “I think it’s pretty unanimous,” and entertained the motion delivered by Hartley and seconded by Ciaburri. Morse told the board he would contact Cannon Tuesday night and make the offer with contract negotiations to follow.

            Cannon, Herbert Durfee, Jessica Horsman and Edward Swartz were the four finalists interviewed on Tuesday after being culled from a group of seven interviewed by Plymouth-based Community Paradigm Associates LLC. Bernard Lynch, founder and managing principal of the consulting firm, was city manager of Lowell eight years and for 20 years was Chelmsford’s town manager.

            Lynch explained that the initial effort solicited between 100 and 200 prospective applicants; 18 responded and two significant withdrawals left the field at 16, seven of which were interviewed.

            Cannon, Bourne’s acting town administrator, and Durfee, former Norwich, Vermont, town manager, represented the closest thing to matching experience, while Horsman, Attleboro’s Public Health director, and Swartz, a longtime member of the Dighton Finance Committee, also emerged from the pool of candidates to the final stage.

            Cannon has served as the Bourne’s assistant town administrator the past four years and has been acting town administrator while the town’s new hire for the position is not yet in place. Cannon’s role in Bourne has been “very much project oriented,” according to Lynch.

            Asked how he describes a town administrator, Cannon said it’s “the person who brings it all together” and supports town departments, making sure that they have the support and the direction they need. Tough decisions are part of the job, Cannon said. “It might not be the most popular decision but the right decision.”

            Prior to working for Bourne, Cannon served 20 years on the Cape Cod Commission and worked as director of technical services. His engineering degree at UMass Dartmouth has been used in roles with Cumberland Farms and the Massachusetts Highway Department, and he holds a 2019 certificate in Municipal Management from Suffolk University, a nine-month program in which Lynch teaches. Cannon has also served in a number of positions in Middleboro where he lives.

            Without a vote but asked for comment, Szyndlar said, “I think personally Glenn is the strongest of the four. Apples to apples, he was the strongest. … It’s just a matter of time for (Horsman). … Mr. Durfee, the Massachusetts background, that he doesn’t have, but (he’s) also very good. But, to me, Glenn clearly stands out.”

            “I go back to what we need,” said Town Counsel Blair Bailey, also asked for his opinion. Noting Szyndlar’s expertise in finance, “what’s on our horizon” and the turnover in administration, Bailey, too, threw his hat into the ring for project-related experience. “Not disrespecting the other two,” he said, “(but) with the turnover, Glenn or Mr. Durfee is a better fit. I think Glenn’s terrific.”

            Durfee was given careful consideration, his interview being the longest in duration.

            Hartley was satisfied with Durfee’s answers to questions he had about the role of town manager as opposed to town administrator, a role that Hartley stressed collaborates with department heads rather than working over them in a supervisory capacity. Nonetheless, the problems that Durfee encountered in Norwich were collectively weighty for Hartley.

            “I’m a little concerned with him, he had a lot of negative stories and not as many positive ones,” said Hartley.

            “My take on that is he might have been trying to emphasize he was a problem solver … I want to give him that benefit,” said Morse. “I thought they were all excellent, I really did. A couple of them surprised me.”

            Durfee, the lone out-of-state candidate, spent four years as town manager of Norwich, Vermont, until August 2021 when the town’s Select Board voted not to renew his contract.

            “Norwich is one of those towns – we have a number of them here in Massachusetts – that trend through managers every three or four years. He lasted his four years,” said Lynch, who told the board at its February 17 meeting that he reached out to Norwich including the Select Board and reported no criticisms but just an interest in change.

            While Durfee’s renewal was not supported last year by the town’s Select Board, he was praised by a Norwich-based engineer and by the town’s former police chief for his response to the 2017 storm and for his support to department heads, according to an August 2, 2021, article detailing his dismissal in the Vermont-based Valley News.

            Lynch said he looked into Durfee’s involvement in a car-truck accident (also referenced in the Valley News article,) spoke with the police chief and a Select Board member, and called it “a one-off,” saying the Durfee made a mistake with alcohol, admitted it immediately, and made himself accountable to the public. The Norwich Select Board renewed his contract after that incident.

            In his interview on Tuesday, Durfee discussed an episode he encountered in Norwich in which the town dismissed a financial director after the ill-advised if well-intentioned shifting of $300,000 without properly vetted approval and an incident of comparable losses due to a scam. He said the money lost was recovered.

            Durfee, 58, told the Select Board he has procured “a ton of grants” and described a variety of experiences working with state officials. In project management, he said he helped double the size of Norwich’s Highway Department garage and a new Department of Public Works facility. Norwich lost all six department heads in a two-year period, some due to retirement and some whom Durfee said he had to let go.

            Durfee, who also served as town manager of Fairhaven, Vermont, where he said he eliminated financial deficiencies, offered his advice on any matter going forward, whether he was hired by Rochester or not.

            Connected to musical chairs about to commence in Rochester, the board voted at its February 17 meeting to sign a contract with Szyndlar to fill the new role of Finance Director effective July 1. The board also voted to sign contracts renewing Bailey as town counsel, Scott Weigel as fire chief and Kathy McHenry as assistant town accountant.

            Ciaburri announced his intentions to step down as Rochester’s Emergency Management director.

            In her February 17 Town Administrator’s Report, Szyndlar suggested a search committee to pursue a new building commissioner. “To be frank, this position is likely going to be harder to fill than the town administrator’s position,” said Bailey, alluding to the new code, required certifications and other factors.

            Szyndlar reported a new two-year, $400,000 contract proposal by the Duxbury-based regional emergency communications center, a $25,000 annual increase over the past five years.

            Rochester was recently awarded $27,000 in grant funding for police cruiser computers, and the Fire Department received $85,000 in grant funds.

            The Board of Assessors was voted approval by the Select Board for approval to rescind its Chapter 653 status. The status was used 18 months; the board wishes to go back to a January-December calendar to be aligned with the January 1 assessment date.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board was not scheduled at adjournment.

Rochester Select Board

By Mick Colageo

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