Swampscott’s Maylor a finalist again for Winthrop town manager

SWAMPSCOTT – Once again, Town Administrator Andrew Maylor is a finalist for the town manager position in Winthrop.Maylor said it’s still early in the process and the town council would not be interviewing the three finalists until next week, but he confirmed he is one of three finalists. Maylor admitted Winthrop holds a special appeal for him.”The first thing that needs to be stated is I spent 35 years of my life in Winthrop,” he said. “My parents still live there. It is home. The place where you grew up is home. This presented an opportunity to be part of the government process in the place where I grew up. The ability to participate in what you love to do in the place you grew up is something that doesn’t come along very often.”The other two candidates are Newburyport Mayor John Moak and James McKenna, a trial attorney and two-term administrative assistant to former Gloucester Mayor John Bell.Maylor said the list of 35-40 candidates was winnowed down to five people, who were interviewed by the screening committee.The screening committee than recommended three finalists to Town Council President Thomas Reilly.”Under their charter the council president will make his selection and make a recommendation to the full (town) counsel,” Maylor said. “It is up to the council whether to ratify his selection. From what I’ve been told I don’t expect that to happen before Memorial Day.”Maylor said the job posting for the Winthrop position indicated a salary range of approximately $125,000 and it is comparable to what he makes in Swampscott.”I decided to apply for the position with a strong interest,” he said. “I applied for this position with expectation – all things being equal – that if I’m fortunate enough to be the person they offer the position to it would be reasonable to expect I would take it.”In November 2005, Maylor was one of three finalists for the town manager position in Winthrop before withdrawing his name. That was the second time in as many years Maylor applied for a position elsewhere and withdrew his name at the eleventh hour. In August 2004, Maylor was one of the finalists for a position in Winchester.Maylor said he withdrew his name from consideration for the position in Winthrop at that time because the two other finalists withdrew and there was a lot of uncertainty about how the search for the first town manger in the history of the community would proceed.”There had been a recent charter change and it was the first time the community was going through the process,” he said. “When two candidates withdrew there were a lot of questions and uncertainty about how to proceed. The uncertainty created an uncertainty in me even though I know I would be a good a fit.”