Board sets rules for Marblehead health director interviews

MARBLEHEAD – The search committee that will seek the town?s next director of public health plans to conduct one or two rounds of interviews in mid-October and recommend finalists to the Board of Health by Halloween.The proposed salary will be Step 1 on the administrator scale, or $64,300 a year. Attridge said that amount would leave the Board of Health room to negotiate, and Step 1 carries a performance review after six months.Under the leadership of Chairman Carl Goodman, committee members scheduled another meeting next Tuesday to approve a job description and a posting for the vacancy, which will be posted town-wide and on websites to be suggested by current Director Wayne Attridge. Attridge said three weeks should be enough time to get a pool of applicants.Attridge attended the committee?s first meeting Tuesday night in an advisory capacity.He said the town needs a hands-on administrator who will devote 75 percent of his or her workload to the solid waste disposal program and 25 percent to the health department. The budget reflects that, with $1.5 million spent on solid waste and $160,000 on health programs. Attridge employs a public health nurse, a health inspector and two part-time clerks at the health office and a foreman, two heavy equipment operators and a full-time clerk at the solid waste transfer station.The town has no residency requirement, but Goodman said an applicant who lives in or near Marblehead would be considered a stronger candidate.In response to a question from new committee member Jane Bright, founder of Healthlink, Attridge said personality was also a factor.?There were things that came up that never made it to the board because Wayne was a good mediator,” Goodman said.