Marblehead biz manager candidate lands post

MARBLEHEAD – Former Swampscott High Principal Brian Salzer has a job after all.According to a brief statement issued by Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac Wednesday morning, the Marblehead School Committee voted to approve a two-year contract with Salzer for the position of business manager.Dulac attended the executive session. The public announcement was his first since he underwent bypass surgery a month ago."The salary for the first year is $111,000 with the second year’s salary to be determined," Dulac said. "Mr. Salzer will begin immediately."The committee also approved the appointment of Richard Kelleher as food service director with a base salary of $64,000 and incentives for reducing the operating budget subsidy of the food service program.Salzer’s salary is $8,000 more than Dulac budgeted for the position. Kelleher’s salary is $1,000 more than the amount received by the former food service director, who left halfway through her first year.Both positions were discussed by committee members behind closed doors Wednesday morning discussing "contract negotiations with non-union personnel" for the third week in a row. "Potential litigation" was not listed as a reason for the executive session, although it was last week.The committee action resolved a difficult month for Salzer, who left Swampscott High after signing a contract to become Marblehead’s school business manager more than a month ago. He was recommended for the business manager post for two years at a salary of $125,000 by Dulac. That amount was only $1,000 more than he received at Swampscott High but $22,000 more than Dulac had budgeted for the business manager salary.On June 17 School Committee members publicly rejected the contract because it was over budget and asked acting Superintendent Robert Bellucci to renegotiate. Although Salzer was willing to do that, Bellucci apparently could not arrive at a settlement that the committee could accept and on June 23 the committee voted to re-open the school business manager search.