Marblehead Light Commission members postpone GM choice for at least 2 weeks

MARBLEHEAD – Municipal Light Commission members will delay their decision for a new general manager for at least two weeks.They discussed the matter briefly Wednesday afternoon before taking up next year?s budget, and voted to postpone the appointment.?I think we should extend the search process for two, maybe two-and-a-half weeks,” said Commissioner Wilbur Bassett. “There are some things we should be looking at and I don?t think we should be jumping into this too quickly.”Put into a motion, Bassett?s thoughts were supported unanimously by his colleagues.The commissioners have interviewed four finalists for one of the town?s highest-paid positions, general manager of the Municipal Light Department.The candidates include Marblehead Municipal Light Department Chief Engineer Jay Anderson, Danvers Director of Engineering Hamid Jaffari, Peabody Associate Electrical Engineer Roy Simoes and Manassas, Va., Electrical Utility Plant Deputy Director Gregg Paulson. All four were interviewed last week.Marblehead General Manager Robert Jolly plans to retire in March after 16 years as general manager. Jolly earns in excess of $153,000 but the vacancy was advertised at a lower amount. The commissioners received 22 applications in November and Chairman Philip Sweeney and Commissioner Charles Phillips did the initial screening.?The bottom line is, there?s no decision yet and maybe there will be one in a couple of weeks,” Sweeney said.