Saugus board to hold town manager meetings

SAUGUS – The Saugus Board of Selectmen will hold a pair of meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the Town Manager position and receive public input to create a job description.The first meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium while the second will be held on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. in the same location.?We?re going to involve all the department heads and the public, and everybody else in exactly what kind of qualifications we would need,” said selectman Stephen Horlick on Wednesday. “We?ll talk to Finance Committee and Town Meeting members, everybody is going to have a chance to say what they think the qualifications should be.”Former Town Manager Andrew Bisignani retired on Jan. 6 after nine years on the job. Town Counsel John Vasapolli replaced him as temporary Town Manager.Selectmen Chairman Scott Crabtree said having public involvement is important to get an idea of what direction Saugus residents want to take the town.?Their input matters,” said Crabtree. “It?s about having open dialogue and discussion.”Horlick said he?s still writing out his list of attributes that he?d like to see in a new manager, but noted “people skills” is high up on his list along with a strong financial background.?They should also want to be vested in the community as far as parks, playgrounds, schools and want to drive through town and say, ?How do we make this town look better or get more things done with the same amount of money??” said Horlick. “The person also has to have people skills not only to the board but to the general public and all the department skills. Even if you may not agree with the person, at the end of the day there?s no animosity. That to me is one of the most important things.”Being a Saugus resident may also play a role in choosing a new Town Manager, said Horlick.?That is going to be something that will be looked at very hard because the last Town Manager was not a Saugus resident and a lot of people were concerned about that,” said Horlick. “We can look at that. There?s going to be a whole criteria to go through.”According to both Crabtree and Horlick, there has been no interest in the open Town Manager position yet, but Crabtree said the job won?t be formally advertised until a full job description is completed.?We have to get this part of the process finished first,” said Crabtree.Horlick said there is no timetable in place yet for the selection process, but he hopes to have some “really good candidates” lined up in the next three months if everything goes according to plan.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].