wellfleet Town Administrator Archives - The Provincetown Independent

wellfleet Town Administrator

TOWN HALL

Guerino Signs 3-Year Contract With Wellfleet

His total compensation, with allowances, will top $243K

By Sam Pollak May 29, 2024

WELLFLEET — Town Administrator Tom Guerino is officially here to stay. Guerino and the select board signed a three-year contract at the board’s May 21 meeting after Guerino had served as interim administrator since February. The contract is set to expire in April 2027.

Wellfleet Town Administrator Tom Guerino. (Photo by Teresa Parker)

“For the first time since I have been on the board, I feel confident that the administrative side of town government has a good, firm hand on the wheel,” select board chair John Wolf said.

Guerino’s contract provides a base salary of $207,910, with 3.75-percent annual increases. In addition, he will get a monthly housing allowance of $1,000. Guerino, whose home is in Vernon, Vt., has been commuting to Wellfleet every day from Middleborough, where he has been renting, for the past three months. He told the Independent that he has now found a rental in Wellfleet.

Under his contract, the town will pay Guerino an additional $300 per week for “life, disability, and other insurance” and will “provide, maintain, and repair” a car for Guerino’s use. If such a vehicle is not provided, Guerino will receive $150 per week to cover transportation expenses. He had a similar car allowance in his town administrator job in Bourne and housing authority job in Greenfield, he said. “It’s standard in municipal contracts,” said Guerino.

Counting the housing, insurance, and car allowances, Guerino’s total compensation package is more than $243,000. Wellfleet’s previous town administrator, Richard Waldo, was being paid $194,250 when he resigned earlier this year.

The select board entered negotiations with Guerino on April 18; two additional executive sessions on April 23 and May 9 took place to hammer out the contract.

“You have more than one trick you can pull out of your hat, and it’s extremely valuable,” select board member Ryan Curley told Guerino on May 21. “Your financial acumen is excellent, your experience in housing is a major plus, and you’re good with engineering as well.”

Guerino’s previous job was director of the Greenfield Housing Authority. He also served as the interim municipal manager of Putney, Vt. and was town administrator in Bourne for 14 years.

Select board members said that a three-year contract will provide a sense of stability at town hall, which has seen rapid turnover in administration in recent years. Guerino is Wellfleet’s seventh administrator in the past decade.

Guerino stepped in as interim administrator at the end of February after Waldo’s departure on Feb. 9. Waldo had served for a year and a half. Assistant Town Administrator Silvio Genao left the next day after serving in the position for three months.

Executive assistant Rebekah Eldridge said at the May 21 meeting that Guerino has been a positive addition to town hall. “I have learned more from him that I have going to school for a bachelor’s and master’s,” she said. “We get along very well. I am excited to work with him.”

“I’m thrilled,” Guerino said this week. “I couldn’t be happier. There’s a lot of projects here. It’s an exciting place to be right now.”

A first order of business, he added, would be advertising for a new assistant administrator.

Editor’s note: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article, published in print on May 30, incorrectly reported the amount of Guerino’s weekly allowance for insurance under his contract. It is $300, not $150.

TRANSITION

Former Bourne Administrator Is Tapped in Wellfleet

Tom Guerino will be the interim town administrator pending contract negotiations

By Sam Pollak Jan 31, 2024

WELLFLEET — As the town heads into budget and warrant season, its leaders have been faced with a more urgent job: finding a new administrator for its rapidly approaching busiest season.

The select board voted on Tuesday to appoint Tom Guerino interim town administrator, two weeks after Assistant Town Administrator Silvio Genao announced that he would not take the job. The board had appointed Genao on Jan. 9 following Town Administrator Rich Waldo’s resignation.

Guerino is currently director of the Greenfield Housing Authority. He served 14 years as town administrator in Bourne, according to a letter submitted to the select board. He also served as interim municipal manager of the Town of Putney, Vt., as well as executive director of the Mass. Rural Development Council, according to his résumé.

The selection came after public interviews with four candidates. At its Jan. 30 meeting, the board narrowed the choice to Guerino or former Wellfleet Town Administrator Harry Terkanian. Chair Barbara Carboni and vice chair John Wolf wanted Terkanian; members Michael DeVasto, Ryan Curley, and Tim Sayre favored Guerino.

Current Bourne Assistant Town Administrator Liz Hartsgrove and Kenneth Eldridge, a resident of Wellfleet and former select board member in Littleton, also applied for the position.

Waldo’s last day at town hall is Feb. 9, and Genao will leave less than a week later, on Feb. 15. Waldo had been Wellfleet’s administrator for 18 months; Genao had been in place for only three months.

Both cited disharmony with the select board and job stress as their reasons for resigning.

On Jan. 24, Carboni said, “This is not an ideal way to conduct the start of a search, but we are on a very short timeline, and there was not really time for the normal process. We are doing the best we can under the circumstances.”

But select board members said they were impressed with the candidates. DeVasto said that Guerino’s background “is everything we need. I am 100 percent confident in his ability to move the ball forward. It is clear he has a breadth of administrative experience, knowledge, and professionalism.”

Curley expressed interest in Guerino’s municipal finance experience. According to Guerino’s cover letter, during his tenure in Bourne, the town’s bond rating from Standard and Poor’s increased from AA- to AA+.

“Having someone who brings financial acumen is important,” Curley said.

Carboni said that Terkanian’s background in Wellfleet would provide needed stability to a tumultuous moment at town hall. “We need as much familiarity as possible, both on the part of the interim but also on the part of staff,” Carboni said.

During Guerino’s interview with the board on Jan. 29, he said he hoped his tenure as interim town administrator would last a year. Select board members deliberated on whether a year contract would violate the town charter, which stipulates that the appointment of an interim town administrator cannot exceed 90 days but can be renewed.

The board ultimately voted to appoint Guerino as interim administrator “subject to successful contract negotiations” and to appoint Terkanian as interim if contract negotiations with Guerino fail.

Questions of Staffing

At the select board’s two interview sessions on Jan. 24 and Jan. 29, board members laid out their priorities for an interim administrator.

Carboni listed staffing as her main concern. “We are in a vulnerable place right now with the transition, and I want to make sure that the staff feels supported and listened to,” she said. “I am looking for someone who is a good manager of people and someone who is interested in employee retention.”

She asked candidates about the town administrator’s role in supporting and retaining staff during a transitional period.

“My management style is horizontal as opposed to vertical,” said Guerino. “My job is to help facilitate for them to do their best job, offer guidance and support — the idea is not to micromanage.” Retaining staff is about finding out “what the impetus is that people are leaving, how do we meet with the board to address those issues and calm the water,” he said. “That’s what I can bring to the table.”

“I make the rounds with department heads to try to find out what is on their mind, what they see on the horizon that is going to need attention,” Terkanian told the board. “I am there to help them with problems as opposed to telling them how to run their department.”

Staff retention revolves around working conditions, training, and compensation, Terkanian said. “It’s striking a balance between doing the best you can for your employees and respecting the fact that you have your hands on the taxpayers’ wallets.”

DeVasto asked about the select board’s working relationship with the town administrator: “How would you respond to a select board member who oversteps into the administrative role in operations?”

“We need to go to the board and get their buy-in to be sure that we are all marching the same way,” Guerino said. “The charter is very clear.”

Working With the Public

Another concern expressed at the candidate interviews was the erosion of trust between members of the public and local government. Wolf called heated exchanges at public meetings “very pointed, very personal, and very nasty. Is that something you are mentally prepared to deal with?” Wolf asked.

Terkanian said that acrimony at meetings is “unfortunately one of the joys of public service.”

Select board members asked each candidate to outline how they would respond to such exchanges.

“There seems to be a communication issue going two ways,” Guerino said. “There needs to be clear understandings of the role of municipal government. But lack of respect for another person’s position can’t be tolerated.”

“The thing you can do is to be transparent and to try to lower the temperature of the debate in terms of being concise, factual, and not engaging in ad hominem attacks,” Terkanian said.

The town is in the process of hiring a recruiting consultant to help search for a permanent town administrator, said Carboni. Solicitations for quotes from interested vendors “will go out shortly,” she told the Independent.

The board will also appoint citizens to a screening committee to interview candidates for the position; the committee will select three finalists for the select board to interview. The board does not have a deadline for hiring a permanent town administrator, Carboni said.

The new town administrator will appoint an interim or permanent assistant town administrator, as required by the charter, said Carboni.

“Onward through the fog,” DeVasto said at the Jan. 30 meeting.

WELLFLEET'S CHOICE

Waldo Is Picked to Take the Helm at Town Hall

He says he will work to keep residents better informed

By Christine Legere Mar 23, 2022

WELLFLEET — The new town administrator won’t have a long commute. His town hall office is a short jaunt from his home.

Richard Waldo, Provincetown’s longtime public works director, was unanimously selected for the job by the select board on Tuesday, pending the successful negotiation of a contract. Closed door negotiations are set for March 29.

After being offered the position, Waldo texted the Independent, saying, “They made the right choice and won’t find a harder worker to serve in the position.” A start date has not yet been set, but Waldo is eager to begin.

“The top priority when I start is to work with the interim town administrator on transition planning and preparations for town meeting,” he said.

Richard Waldo was chosen on Tuesday as Wellfleet’s next town administrator. (Photos by Nancy Bloom)

Select board member Helen Miranda Wilson initially said finalist Jayne Wellman, the Reading town business administrator, was her choice, but she added that she would fully support either of the two finalists. In a show of solidarity, she cast her vote for Waldo.

During an initial polling of the board members, chair Ryan Curley gave his reasons for favoring Waldo. “He’s led a large municipal staff, completed large municipal projects, and has strong ties to the area,” Curley said.

Board member John Wolf agreed. “He lives here, he’s raising his children here, he’s not going anywhere,” Wolf said. He noted that Waldo would soon complete a master’s degree in public administration, while Wellman was just starting a similar graduate program.

Board members Janet Reinhart and Michael DeVasto also favored Waldo over Wellman.

Three finalists had been selected by a screening committee, but Jason Silva, Marblehead’s former town administrator, dropped out to take a job with a private consulting firm, according to Richard White, the consultant overseeing the search process.

On Monday, the select board interviewed Waldo and Wellman, asking each the same 10 questions. Topics ranged from identifying the town’s short- and long-term challenges and listing ways they could be addressed, to the creation of more affordable housing, ways to streamline the town’s convoluted payroll system, and methods to communicate more effectively with Wellfleet’s 200 employees and the public.

The Public Works Director

Waldo has lived on the Outer Cape for 17 years. “I understand the people on the Outer Cape and I understand the workings of it and the challenges,” he said.

As Provincetown’s public works director for 10 years, Waldo oversaw eight departments and 40 full-time staff and handled a $12-million budget, according to his resume.

Waldo named regaining financial stability and restoring the public’s confidence as two immediate challenges that must be addressed. One way to get public support is by keeping people informed, he said.

While most towns post updates on their websites, Waldo said Provincetown’s is not generally used by residents, and the town added email blasts and a Facebook page to its outreach. “You have to hit them from every angle,” he said. Better public communication helps counter misinformation and “build morale and a more positive environment,” he said.

Midterm goals include finalizing the agreement for the 95 Lawrence Road affordable housing project.

“I think we need to take that next step forward to see that project come to fruition and support the residents of Wellfleet,” he said. Waldo also plans to start working with the state Dept. of Transportation on reconstructing the Main Street and Route 6 intersection, while keeping the public informed.

Long-term goals include protecting the town’s harbors and freshwater resources and managing waste, said Waldo.

“With good water quality, a good aquaculture industry, and good housing, I think we could set Wellfleet on a good trajectory for many years to come,” he said.

Asked about qualities that make him well-suited to the town administrator position, Waldo named his ability to deal effectively with both staff and the public. “I’m approachable; I’m able to be patient, reflect on a response, and build consensus,” he said. “I am goal-oriented; I want to inspire and attract staff who want to work in Wellfleet and to find their strong suits and encourage them to work hard. I’d like to build a positive atmosphere.”

When Wolf asked him how he would address an ongoing problem of staff accountability, Waldo said he would set goals and timelines and provide staff with the support they would need to succeed. “You can’t give them expectations without giving them the resources to meet those expectations,” he said.

Asked about disciplining those not meeting expectations, Waldo said there would be a progressive discipline procedure that employees and managers would be well aware of and that would be consistently applied. “Managers get in trouble when they show bias,” he said.

“It usually doesn’t take much after a verbal warning or a written warning for staff to correct,” he said. “Sometimes they just need to understand where they’re failing. You have to be a mentor to them, helping them get through those challenges instead of just reprimanding.”

The Business Manager

Wellman, who lives in Tewksbury, has served as Reading’s business manager for five years, analyzing budgets and working with the town’s finance director and treasurer, according to her resume. She identified short-term goals in Wellfleet of “getting hands around revenues, the budget, and managing that process.

“For me, one of them would be getting to know everybody in town, business owners, staff, and residents,” Wellman said. She said she would create an open-door policy for people to come and ask questions and start building transparency. “Restoring trust, I think, would be important short-term as well as long-term,” she said.

Jayne Wellman outside town hall on Monday, when the select board interviewed her.

Her midterm goals included looking at infrastructure, department needs, and staff training, and addressing the need for additional staff. Wellman also said she would start work on the annual budget early and create an easy-to-follow, transparent process.

In the long term, she said she wants “to create a sustainable financial picture for the community that you could build on and not have to go for overrides for regular capital equipment and one-time monies for recurring operational costs.”

Asked about accountability of staff, Wellman said the town has a “tremendous professional staff.”

Team-building is important, she said, as well as providing employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done. Weekly meetings with department managers can be helpful, she suggested. “There would be an expectation that the managers would be meeting with their staff.”

Regarding discipline, Wellman said the town’s personnel policies needed to be updated. “I would look at what we have in place,” she said.

Being an extrovert, she said, is an asset. “I believe in management by walking around,” Wellman said. “My intention would be to live here or nearby. I would be at your events. I would be seeing your residents and talking to them, building that trust and engagement.”

The town’s recent financial woes created a trust gap, she said, and one remedy is “being there in the community with an open-door policy” so people can put a face to the administrator’s name.

Both Waldo and Wellman told the select board that the town could benefit from having a human resources department. Both also said the payroll for the town’s various departments must be standardized.

In closing, Wellman complimented the select board, saying, “Your dedication to the community for the last couple years has been a heavy lift.”

CIVICS

Three Finalists Named for Wellfleet Town Administrator

Provincetown’s DPW director, Reading’s business administrator, and a former Marblehead administrator

By Thomas Lyons Mar 16, 2022

WELLFLEET — The Town Administrator Screening Committee has identified three finalists for the job, according to a March 11 memo sent by committee chair Bruce Bierhans to the select board. There were 32 applicants for the position.

Richard Waldo, director of Provincetown’s dept. of public works; Jayne Wellman, business administrator for the town of Reading; and Jason Silva, a former Marblehead town administrator are the three finalists.

Charles Sumner has been serving as Wellfleet’s interim town administrator since May 2021, after Maria Broadbent resigned in April, only nine months into her three-year contract.

Richard Waldo, Provincetown’s DPW director, is one of three finalists for Wellfleet town administrator. (Photo courtesy Richard Waldo)

In December, the town chose Richard White of Groux-White Consulting to handle the search. He had been Provincetown’s consultant for the search that landed Alex Morse in the town manager job there. According to Bierhans’s memo to the select board, on Feb. 25 White recommended 12 candidates for further review.

In an interview, Bierhans said his committee, whose other members were Kathy Granlund, Arthur Parker, Fire Chief Richard Pauley, and Sumner (Police Chief Michael Hurley was an alternate), conducted remote interviews with nine candidates. They chose four to interview in person.

“We were looking for candidates with excellent credentials as managers and consensus builders,” Bierhans said. “All three finalists have the skills necessary to address efficiently and competently the Wellfleet financial situation.”

In an interview on Monday, Waldo said, “If you’d asked me if I wanted to run 25 years ago, I probably would’ve said, ‘No way.’ But over the years, I’ve realized I’m a lifelong learner.”

Waldo’s experience includes 10 years directing the Provincetown DPW, where he oversees eight departments, 40 full-time staff, and a combined annual budget of approximately $12 million, according to his resume.

Waldo is in his final year of a master’s degree program in public administration at Suffolk University.

An Outer Cape resident for 17 years, Waldo’s official residence is in Truro, in accordance with his job’s guidelines, though Waldo says he spends most of his days and nights in Wellfleet, where he and his girlfriend are raising their two children. Outer Cape residency was rare among the candidates for the job — all but two live off Cape, said Bierhans.

Waldo’s experience managing budgets at the DPW and his personal knowledge of Wellfleet inform his plans to stabilize Wellfleet’s finances, he said.

“I have an engineer’s mindset with attention to detail and a methodical process,” Waldo said. “Finances need to be transparent in the public eye until we can regain their trust. You need to set a culture of expectations.”

Waldo said he wouldn’t “make any first-day changes.”

“I think my first period will be to observe and learn,” he said. “Learn the workings. Learn what the desires of the community are. Learn about the pressing issues and start to slowly implement solutions.”

A Management Mission

Jayne Wellman has fond memories of bringing her children to the Outer Cape and keeps photos of a Wellfleet sunrise and sunset in her living room, she said during a phone interview Monday.

Wellman is the Reading Town Business Administrator, a position she has held for five years. She manages the town’s insurance risk, analyzes department budgets, and works with the town’s finance director and treasurer, according to her resume.

Jayne Wellman is Reading’s business administrator and serves on both the Tewksbury School Committee and Select Board. (Photo courtesy Jayne Wellman)

Wellman has also served as a Tewksbury Select Board member since 2019, as Tewksbury Town Moderator since 2017, and as a member of the Tewksbury School Committee since 2009.

Asked about Wellfleet’s financial difficulties, Wellman said, “When I joined the committee, the school district was in a similar financial situation. I worked closely with the Tewksbury town manager, and we never needed to pass a Proposition 2½ override. Now we have an $11.4-million stabilization account,” she said.

As Reading’s business administrator, Wellman is involved in budgeting and she prides herself on presenting financial information “with a narrative that is easy for folks to understand.”

As for Wellfleet’s path to financial stability, Wellman said, “Spending less than 100 percent of your revenues so you have free cash to put into a stabilization account, and avoiding debt exclusions to fund routine annual costs such as police cruisers” would be key practices.

North Shore Experience

Jason Silva served for three years as Marblehead Town Administrator, where his duties included overseeing day-to-day town affairs, preparing the annual operating budget and capital improvement plan, and planning town warrants and the select board policy agenda, according to his resume.

In response to interview requests, Silva wrote via text that he was not available, but he noted, “I’ve been able to learn a lot about the community over the last month. It’s clearly a great town with great people and committed leaders and staff.”

In a letter to the screening committee, Silva wrote that his town administrator accomplishments included finalizing Marblehead’s housing production plan, updating the town’s harbor and ADA transition plans, and partnering with the Collins Center at UMass “to create a more complete financial forecasting model.”

Jason Silva resigned in January after three years as Marblehead’s town administrator. (Photo courtesy Jason Silva)

In January 2022, Silva resigned from the administrator position in Marblehead, a move that surprised select board members, according to the Salem News. He has not yet stated publicly the reason for his resignation.

Marblehead Select Board chair Jackie Belf-Becker said Silva’s departure would be “a tremendous loss for the town, as he started so many new initiatives,” the Salem News reported.

Previously, Silva had served as chief of staff for state Sen. Joan Lovely and as Salem’s director of municipal operations and capital improvements. Silva completed Suffolk University’s master’s program in public administration in 2018, according to his resume.

In his memo to the select board, Bierhans wrote that “to a person, the committee is encouraged with the quality of finalists.” He invited the select board to seek committee members’ individual views.

The select board will publicly interview the three finalists on Monday, March 21 at 1 p.m. in the Council on Aging conference room.

THE SEARCH

Wellfleet Picks Same Headhunter Hired by Provincetown

This time, select board seeks someone who understands municipal finance

By Michaela Chesin Dec 8, 2021

WELLFLEET — The select board has chosen consultant Richard White to lead the search for a new town administrator. The choice was made by a unanimous vote during the board’s Nov. 23 meeting.

White is a principal of Groux-White Consulting of Lexington and Chatham. He has served as town administrator in Dennis and as town manager of both Lexington and Winthrop. He was the consultant to the town of Provincetown for its most recent town manager search, which resulted in the hiring of former Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in February.

“I’ve known Rick for a long time,” said interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner, who served as administrator in Brewster for many years. “He was a town manager over almost 40 years. He’ll do a good job for Wellfleet.”

White’s consultations with the select board, the town administrator screening committee, and various community leaders started on Monday, Nov. 29. White plans to present a package of candidates’ applications to the select board during the second week of January.

The top three candidates will likely be selected by the end of February, White told the Independent.

While the holidays can make recruiting difficult, “The fit is really important to us,” White said during his presentation to the select board. “We do a very deep dive in terms of trying to identify the skills, qualities, qualifications, and attributes that are needed for Wellfleet.”

Those skills, he said, include familiarity with Mass. General Laws, deep experience in budgeting, and an understanding of municipal finance.

“It’s equally important to hire someone who is a great leader, knows how to communicate, and can bring the organization together and utilize resources,” White said. “The town has had significant turnover of long-term employees and struggled to develop a system of communication, creating some stability and a collaborative work culture.”

The last permanent town administrator, Maria Broadbent, arrived in town in August 2020, having previously served as town manager of Berwyn Heights, Md. She was chosen for her knowledge of environment issues, collective bargaining, and affordable housing, according to select board members Janet Reinhart and Helen Miranda Wilson.

Finance committee chair Fred Magee said this week that when Broadbent introduced herself in September 2020, she told him, “I know nothing about finance.” Magee added, “It was the first thing she said to me.”

Broadbent resigned in April 2021, just nine months into her three-year contract. She left the town largely unprepared for the annual town meeting, with its finances in disarray. A team of volunteers was called in to prepare an error-riddled town budget for the annual meeting, which was put off until nearly the last possible day in late June.

Broadbent had been chosen, along with one other finalist, Shawn MacInnes, by a screening committee appointed by the select board. The members of the screening committee were Harry Terkanian, Deborah Freeman, Elisabeth Smith, Jim Hood, and David Mead-Fox. Terkanian served as chair.

The accounting disaster that confronted Broadbent predated her arrival in Wellfleet by at least two years. Before Broadbent, Dan Hoort held the town administrator position from 2016 until he retired in 2020. The extent of that disaster was not known until town auditors were prodded to take action by the whistle-blowing accountant Heather Michaud (see related story on page A1).

“The financial challenges need to be addressed long-term as a priority and a skillset,” White said during his presentation to the select board. “It will be important to take what Charlie and the financial staff has accomplished over the last six to nine months and build on it.”

The town sent three requests for proposals to executive search consultants. White’s was the only response, said Sumner. His $9,920 service contract includes consultations with the select board, screening committee, and community leaders; developing a job description and professional qualifications and determining the salary package; recruitment of candidates; reviewing applicants; interviews; presenting a list of finalists to the select board; and negotiation of the contract.

A new five-member screening committee, responsible for presenting three to five finalists, includes Sumner; Fire Chief Richard Pauley; Arthur Parker, a retired police officer who is a private investigator; attorney Bruce Bierhans; and Kathy Granlund, chair of the finance committee. The screening committee will interview prequalified candidates but also has the authority to interview anyone they want, White said.

“We’re there to act as staff support, staff resources for the screening committee,” he added. Sumner was also on the screening committee during Provincetown’s search. “He played a very neutral role,” White said. “He didn’t vote.”

“I want to make sure we have an opportunity to capture as many applications as we can,” select board member Mike DeVasto said following White’s presentation.

Of the Provincetown search, White said, “We had over 100 applicants and 12 high-quality applicants that the screening committee could have interviewed.”

At least half of the finalists are usually recruited, he said, “someone who wasn’t thinking of applying for the job but that we convinced that this was a great opportunity for them and something they might be interested in.

“I don’t want to put them in a situation where I know they are going to fail,” he added. “The in-depth process that we use is to understand and define the qualities of the candidates that you need. A rigid ‘this is how I do things’ town administrator is not going to be successful on the Cape because it’s probably the most intensely retailed position that I held in the 40 years I’ve done this.”

REVOLVING DOOR

Ousted Town Administrator Got Four Months of Severance

But now Broadbent cannot sue Wellfleet

By K.C. Myers Jul 14, 2021

WELLFLEET — Maria Broadbent, the Wellfleet town administrator who lasted nine months from August 2020 to April of this year, received four months’ severance pay after her resignation.

According to the six-page “employment settlement agreement” obtained by the Independent through a public records request, the select board gave Broadbent 120 days of pay as a lump sum amount based on her annual $160,000 salary. That amounted to $53,334, or double what she was entitled to, according to the terms of her contract with the town.

According to that contract, signed in June 2020 when she accepted the job, Broadbent would be entitled to a 60-day severance if she was forced to resign.

It is not known exactly why Broadbent left so suddenly following an executive, that is, closed session on April 23 with the select board. But it is widely believed that the board was not happy with her performance. When she resigned just nine months into a three-year contract, the town meeting warrant and town budget were nowhere near complete, and the town’s finances were in complete disarray. The newly hired town accountant resigned that same week.

A week before Broadbent left, six department heads publicly complained to the select board that Broadbent’s proposed budget for fiscal 2022 did not match the numbers they had negotiated with her.

“There’s a recurring theme,” board chair Michael DeVasto said at the time. “Cuts were made, but departments weren’t notified or consulted about those cuts.”

It is expected to take months or even years to iron out the financial record-keeping problems at town hall, according to Interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner. These accounting issues pre-dated Broadbent’s arrival in Wellfleet.

DeVasto said he is barred from saying anything about the settlement agreement. Board member Ryan Curley said the same thing. Broadbent, who was the town manager of Berwyn Heights, Md. for two years before she came to Wellfleet, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

The extra severance payment is standard operating procedure in situations where an executive with a contract is asked to leave, said Michael Fee, an attorney with Pierce & Mandell and a Truro resident. One of his specialties is employment law.

The original contract proffers one severance amount, but it does not include a clause stopping the executive from suing the employer, Fee said. That is what the extra severance pay buys the town, he added.

According to the severance agreement, both parties mutually agreed to a “non-disparagement” clause — that is, they both agreed not to say anything bad about the other in public. Broadbent also agreed to give up all claims against the town, that is, her right to sue for anything including “intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, wrongful discharge, claims of severance pay, interest, attorney’s fees,” and the like.

The settlement agreement also states that the town must refrain from making negative statements about Broadbent if anyone calls asking for information about her.

“The town can only provide Broadbent’s title and the dates of Broadbent’s employment,” it stated.

This neutral stance is not regarded as a negative performance review by perspective employers, said Bob Nicoson, an independent human resource consultant living in Provincetown. That is because many employers have a policy never to give out references. It is just easier, Nicoson said.

Broadbent had been fired before she came to Wellfleet. In 2018 Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley terminated her from her job as head of the Annapolis office of environmental policy. Buckley let her go under political pressure, Broadbent told the Independent in an earlier interview.

THE DOOR REVOLVES

Wellfleet Taps Sumner as Interim Town Administrator

Meanwhile, volunteers push to finish town meeting warrant and budget

By K.C. Myers May 5, 2021

WELLFLEET — In three days last week, the select board held three meetings during which they delayed town meeting by three weeks, reviewed warrant articles, and decided to offer the job of interim town administrator to Charlie Sumner, 66, the retired Brewster town administrator.

With the town meeting warrant and omnibus and capital budgets not yet finalized, the board had little choice but to change the date of the annual meeting from June 5 to the 26th. The budgets and warrant are expected to be complete in about two weeks, Acting Town Administrator Rich Pauley said on Tuesday. If negotiations go smoothly, Sumner said, he will take over from Pauley, who is also the town’s fire chief, at Wellfleet Town Hall on May 12.

The select board and former Town Administrator Maria Broadbent parted ways on April 23 with a “mutual agreement,” and Heather Michaud, the town accountant for the last four months, resigned the same day. They left after an auditor’s report showed the town’s finances in disarray and after failing to prepare the town budget.

Though the select board did not complete the warrant review, and the members were too exhausted to deal with the 2022 budget by the third night of meetings on April 29, they did on April 28 interview Sumner, who retired in 2015 after serving in Brewster for 29 years.

“He is the right person for what we need right now,” Pauley said. “He has great knowledge, temperament, and the ability to guide us through for the next few months.”

Pauley said he will ask the select board to meet in executive (private) session on Friday, May 7 at 6 p.m. to approve Sumner’s contract.

Sumner finished serving in April as Provincetown’s interim town manager for the previous nine months. He stepped in after Robin Craver and the Provincetown Select Board parted ways just as Craver’s six-month probationary period ended. Sumner received $80 an hour and worked a 32-hour week, according to his contract with Provincetown. He is still negotiating with Wellfleet.

Sumner’s time in Provincetown went so well that the select board named Friday, April 2, “Charlie Sumner Day” before he left.

“I have only heard the most glowing reports,” Wellfleet Select Board Chair Mike DeVasto said of Sumner.

In the meantime, Pauley and attorney Harry Terkanian, who was Wellfleet’s town administrator from 2013 to 2015, have been working to prepare the town meeting warrant and the fiscal 2022 budget. Voters must approve that budget at town meeting on June 26.

Terkanian is volunteering his time, and Pauley refused additional pay. The select board offered to pay Pauley more than his current salary as fire chief, but he declined. “That’s my decision,” he said. “There is just stuff that needs to get done. And Harry has been fantastic.”

Sumner said he believed that, between the two of them, Terkanian and Pauley could put the budget together for town meeting.

Wellfleet’s big picture, however, is less certain. The auditor’s report, which the select board is still reviewing and has not released to the public or the press, raised alarming problems, which Michaud, before she resigned, said would take two or three years to fix.

Several former town employees and others familiar with Wellfleet’s finances, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the town has suffered from inconsistent leadership. Gene Ferrari, the last town accountant before Michaud, was let go by Broadbent after one year. Before Ferrari, Connie Boulos was the accountant for two years. The town administrator position bounced from Paul Sieloff, who began in 2007 and commuted weekly from Albany, N.Y to work four days in Wellfleet, to Terkanian for three years, to Dan Hoort for four years. Broadbent lasted nine months.

Several sources said training and compliance of staff in use of the current accounting system, Vadar, has been poor. One former contractor said, “It’s endemic of not having good management. It happens over a long period of time; things build and then it gets worse.”

Pauley described “real difficulties within the accounting department related to the software and previous accounts transferring to the current software. That’s been an issue for a year.”

“We have had the turnover at the town accounting office and at town hall,” Pauley continued. “But I have full faith and confidence that the townspeople can feel the important business of town will get done.”

Accounting discrepancies during transition years do happen. In fact, Sumner faced the same issue shortly after leaving Brewster.

Sumner told the Wellfleet Select Board he retired in the fall of 2015 and Brewster Finance Director Lisa Souve retired in 2016. “We had worked together for over 25 years,” Sumner said. “We kind of finished each other’s sentences.” But after their retirements, “things kind of went off the rails,” he said.

The new town administrator, Mike Embury, and new town accountant, Irene Larivee, blamed accounting errors found by an auditor on Sumner and Souve. In a May 2018 meeting, Embury, Sumner, and Souve traded accusations. “It was ugly,” Sumner said.

Ultimately, Larivee was placed on leave and let go in October 2018. Embury resigned in June 2018. Embury, who could not be reached for comment, is currently a bus driver for the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.