Nahant to interview finalists for town administrator job Thursday

NAHANT – The last town administrator search led as far as Mark Cullinan’s home on Ocean Street. This time, the search didn’t have to travel much farther as selectmen Thursday will interview a candidate from Nahant and a candidate from Lynn to be Cullinan’s successor.”It’s an attractive community in many respects and very similar to Wenham in the types of issues that come forward,” said candidate Jeffrey Chelgren, the current town administrator in Wenham. “And it’s very close to my residence – I live in the Diamond District – and I always kept an eye on the surrounding communities.””There’s an advantage and a disadvantage,” said Saugus Town Manager Andrew Bisignani. “If you’re not a resident, finishing the work day and going home is a little sense of relief. But, living in the community, much more of an awareness if you’re there 24 hours a day. Living in the community you have a personal stake in what goes on as well as a professional stake.”Town Administrator Mark Cullinan announced in June that he was retiring effective Nov. 5 after 17 years as the Nahant Town Administrator. On Nov. 10, the town’s search committee announced that they had narrowed 74 applicants down to three finalists for the town administrator position and recommended that the Board of Selectmen interview Bisignani, Chelgren and Orlando Pacheco, the town administrator of Lancaster, and a resident of Peabody, for the position at the board’s Thursday night meeting.But Pacheco said in an interview Monday that he was withdrawing his application. He cited several major municipal projects, including a 500 kilowatt solar array on the town landfill and several removals and renovations of dams that he felt needed to be completed in Lancaster before he could accept another position.”The North Shore is home, that’s where I want to be,” Pacheco said. “Unfortunately, like most things in life, the timing has to be right and, in this particular case, I think we’re just a couple of months off.”Pacheco praised the other candidates, however, and noted that “Nahant is going to be one very lucky community.”Both candidates are certainly familiar with the community.Bisignani is a 16-year resident of the town and acknowledged that he keeps “a fairly close eye on things,” praising the town’s well-managed infrastructure and governmental organization. He said that, although Nahant is significantly smaller in population, budget and land area than Saugus, he felt that the opportunity to serve as town administrator in his hometown was something unique and worth pursuing.Chelgren may not reside in Nahant, but he said he visits the town each morning on his jog along Long Beach. He also said that – aside from the ocean, although he noted that Wenham comes from the Native American word for “water due to its many lakes and streams – there were many similarities between Wenham and Nahant. Both have similar Town Administrator positions and three-member Boards of Selectmen, he said. Both are dealing with increased demands for services but also an increased demand to keep taxes low, Chelgren noted, and both towns have similar numbers of employees and municipal departments.Ultimately, however, Chelgren noted that the decision will come down to the Selectmen.”It is going to really come down to a call on the selectmen as to which of us has the best fit,” he said. “Each of us would bring something unique, and Nahant would benefit from each.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected]