In a rare midday session, the Finance Committee met on Monday, Sept. 12 to review the transfer of $17,200 for the Select Board to hire a search firm to assist in hiring a new town manager.
Current Town Manager Kristen Las will exit her position at the end of September to work for another municipality. The Town Manager Search Committee’s mission will be to make recommendations for a new town manager.
The Search Committee consists of 12, including FinCom member Suneet Chadham, School Committee member Thomas LaFlamme, and Select Board member Elizabeth Sawyer.
The remaining members are Scott Hazelton, Wendy Gloyd, Nancy Cook, Lindsay Richard, Daniel Cannon, Andrea Peraner-Sweet, Angela Harkness, Jared Broberg and James Miller.
The first Search Committee meeting will be on Thursday, September 24 at 8:30 a.m., when a chair, vice chair, and secretary will be chosen. View the agenda and register on Zoom here.
The Select Board’s request is “an unanticipated reserve fund transfer in this year’s fiscal budget,” according to Las.
This year, FinCom began with $100,000 in its reserve fund transfer account.
The Committee voted unanimously to transfer the requested amount for the search committee, making its current balance $22,355.
Previous requests granted by the Finance Board this fiscal year include transferring $60,445 for wastewater compliance at Westford Academy.
Westford’s Finance Director Dan O’Donnell also informed the Board that he has requested an amount of $60,445 under FY27 supplements to replenish The Board’s reserve fund transfer account.
“It’s our only source of emergency funding between October and March,” O’Donnell said. “So we do want to make sure that we have the balance there.”
When asked by a FinCom member whether or not Westford’s Human Resources department could cover the costs with its reserves, O’Donnell informed them that HR’s reserves are only used for personnel services. The Town Manager search firm counts as an expense.
“We have budgeted very closely, especially with the financial conditions we’re in,” Las said. “When the last Town Manager search firm was selected, there was a reserve fund transfer for that allocation [from the FinCom], as it was also an unforeseen circumstance.”
The Finance Committee’s next meeting will be this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. to review Special Town Meeting warrant articles. To view the agenda and register on Zoom, click here.
