Departing Maylor offers recommendations for next Swampscott town administrator

SWAMPSCOTT – Town Administrator Andrew Maylor recommended that his replacement have town government experience, be comfortable interacting with residents and be able to answer “what does your desk look like and what does it mean?””I’d want to know how do you manage through what is not a well-scripted role,” Maylor told members of the Town Administrator Search Committee Wednesday night. (Maylor said his desk is barren because he goes back and forth among so many different things a day, he can’t leave them all out). “Every day is different,” he said.Today is Maylor’s last day as town administrator, a position he has held for nine years. He begins full-time as town manager of North Andover on Friday. The search committee set a Dec. 16 deadline to receive applications for the position and members said that they have received 33 applications so far. Wednesday night, the committee met with Maylor to seek his input on his replacement.”Nobody knows better what we’re looking for than the person who has been here for nine years,” search committee Co-Chairman Adam Forman said.Maylor told the committee that the Swampscott town administrator position was very attractive to potential applicants. The Town Charter gives the administrator certain budgetary and management duties more typically given to a town manager, he said, and the community operates accordingly.Maylor said that opportunity, however, made it important that any town administrator be dedicated to the community as well as the position. The limited resources of town governments make them more reactive than strategic in their spending, Maylor said. Meanwhile, Swampscott residents are demanding more high-quality services, but also bemoan the town’s tax rate. As a result, the successful town administrator “has to personalize it a little bit,” Maylor said.”You have to see things that people who are just working here don’t see,” he said. “You have to see the rippled flag, and know that in town governments, resources are short and you have to be used to that.”He also said the town administrator has to be the “face of the community,” and be accessible to residents, staff and volunteers. Maylor said the positive relationships among the town government, the schools, and within community organizations and Town Meeting members showed the desirability of the Swampscott position to applicants.Indeed, search committee members said they would miss Maylor being that familiar face, thanking him for his years of service as he left the meeting.”You leave big shoes to fill,” committee Co-Chairman Iris Goldman said.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].