For Kelly Clark, Friday, July 18 — the day after Truro’s select board unanimously voted to offer her the job of town manager — was a lot like many of the days that had come before it.
She was still working on the overhaul of the town’s website, she told the Independent in an interview, and preparing for back-to-back select board meetings on July 22 and 23.
After eight years as assistant town manager under former managers Rae Ann Palmer and Darrin Tangeman — plus almost six months as acting town manager after Tangeman’s resignation announcement in early February — that work felt familiar.
“It doesn’t feel very different today except for all of the kind well-wishes I received from the community and from staff and from the board,” Clark said. “For right now, it’s business as usual.”
Select board members had praised Clark’s long experience in Truro before their vote on July 17.
“You are beyond the perfect fit for this job,” said board member Stephanie Rein.
Each board member asked Clark two questions that day in what had been billed as a job interview — although the encounter was not particularly suspenseful, as they had workshopped their questions at a select board meeting on July 8 at which Clark was present. She was the only finalist chosen from 16 applicants.
Clark told the board that since she started working summer jobs in Truro as an assistant recreation counselor in 1999, she has served for more than 25 years under seven town managers. Clark’s family lived in the Boston suburbs when she was growing up, but they spent their summers here, she said.
“My parents built a home in Truro when they were pregnant with me, so it’s no wonder I fell in love with the Outer Cape, and especially Truro,” Clark told the board.
In addition to her time with the recreation dept., Clark worked in the service industry, including “hostessing at the Duck Creek Tavern, barking and waiting tables at the Post Office Café, and working the register at the Wellfleet Pharmacy,” she said. She became a recreation counselor, then summer program coordinator, then recreation director before becoming assistant town manager in 2016.
During her time at the recreation dept., she “expanded the summer program hours by over 300 percent and helped the program serve 90 to 100 kids per day,” Clark told the board.
Her father still lives in that house in Truro, but housing prices here have been out of reach, Clark said. In 2009, she bought her first house in Harwich.
“I wanted to be a lot closer to this area, but that was the closest I could get,” she told the Independent. She now lives in Orleans with her husband and three children.
Clark said that of her work to date, she is most proud of the renovated Puma Park outside Truro’s Community Center.
“It had deteriorated to the point of presenting safety concerns,” Clark said, but after the renovation, “that playground is one of the best spots in town.”
Clark said she wants to improve Truro’s handling of human resources, create an employee handbook, and add more professional development opportunities for town staff. The town has 90 to 100 year-round employees and 20 to 30 seasonal employees, she said.
Clark also told the Independent she wants to “bring people together” around difficult issues like the Dept. of Public Works building project and the challenge of addressing the housing crisis while maintaining Truro’s rural character.
When asked about her philosophy of leadership, Clark said she is not a micromanager and that she wants to encourage a healthy work-life balance for her staff and herself.
Clark’s new position won’t technically begin until contract negotiations with the select board are concluded. In June, Truro’s job listing for town manager gave the salary as $190,000 but “negotiable.”
Her current salary as acting town manager is $210,305 with a $4,000 vehicle stipend, she told the Independent.
Once the contract is signed, Clark can move into the official Truro town manager’s office. It’s bigger than her old office — but only about 10 feet away.
