Choice to run Marblehead light dept. may be revealed Wednesday

MARBLEHEAD – Municipal Light Commission members interviewed Virginia candidate Gregg Paulson Friday morning and they are ready to hire one of the four finalists for one of the town?s highest-paid positions, general manager of the Municipal Light Department.Last Tuesday afternoon they interviewed Marblehead Municipal Light Department Chief Engineer Jay Anderson, Danvers Director of Engineering Hamid Jaffari and Peabody Associate Electrical Engineer Roy Simoes.General Manager Robert Jolly plans to retire in March after 16 years. Jolly earns in excess of $153,000 but the vacancy was advertised at a lower amount. The commissioners received 22 applications, and Chairman Philip Sweeney and Commissioner Charles Phillips did the initial screening.After the interview Sweeney said the commissioners are scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon and could make a choice then.Paulson, the deputy director of the Manassas Electrical Utility plant, said he prefers the carrot to the stick as a manager, and would rather “coach, train and mentor before we get to the discipline stage.”An engineer by nature, he said he has become more interested in the financial side of management in the past 10 years, especially in terms of five-year and 10-year capital improvement plans. He told the board he has worked in both the private and public sectors, attending college classes at night, and was hired at a Florida public utility when he happened to apply during a vacation trip.He gave detailed answers to the commission?s financial questions, drawing a graph at one point to illustrate power demand issues, and told them he not only supported renewable wind and solar energy, he actually built a working wind turbine in his back yard from parts he found in junk yards.He said he left the Manassas utility recently after 4? years because “A lot of things are going on in Manassas and I wasn?t happy there. You have to like what you do and where you are.”