Marblehead light co. GM hopefuls face interviews

MARBLEHEAD – Municipal Light Commission members interviewed three of the four finalists for one of the town?s highest-paid positions, general manager of the Municipal Light Department Tuesday.General Manager Robert Jolly plans to retire in March. He has served as general manager of the department for 16 years and earns in excess of $153,000. From Nov. 1-Dec. 1 the commissioners received 22 applications, which were screened by Chairman Philip Sweeney and Commissioner Charles Phillips.Tuesday?s interviewees included Marblehead Municipal Light Department Chief Engineer Jay Anderson, Danvers Director of Engineering Hamid Jaffari and Peabody Associate Electrical Engineer Roy Simoes.Sweeney led the interviews, asking the same seven questions of each candidate. He said the commissioners will interview Virginia candidate Greg Paulison Friday morning, and he declined to say when they will make a decision.Anderson lives in Lynn and has 22 years experience in the public and private sector. He said municipal power companies keep accountability local. “You have to answer to your customers,” he said, telling the commissioners that customer service and accountability are the basis of his management philosophy.As expected, Anderson knew the Marblehead situation the best, discussing the need for new computers for the office and a $1 million-$3 million renovation of the municipal light building, which he said could be phased in over a period of three years.Jaffari lives in Topsfield and has worked in the public and private sector for 27 years. He compared municipal power companies to “serving your own family” and said his management philosophy was based on teamwork, “bringing people together.”He lectures, teaches, writes a department budget every year and has built three substations “on time and under budget.” “I?m a good negotiator,” he said, noting that he has obtained free equipment for Danvers. Asked how he would handle power purchasing he said, “I do my own research and I make my own decisions.”Simoes lives in Peabody in a house he built with his father. He started working as a high school student in 1976 and has worked in the public utility area since 1994. He also serves on the city Planning Board as an alternate member, a mayoral appointee.He said public utilities offer “local control, employee buy-in and ownership, and a smaller, more manageable system,” and said as a manager he treats people with respect and seeks to collaborate with them. He creates a budget for his area “day-to-day engineering operations” every year.