SWAMPSCOTT — The town appointed Richard Simmons as its interim assessing agent, which was confirmed at a Select Board meeting Wednesday night.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said the need for a new assessor came about when former Assessor Ben Straight, whom Fitzgerald called an “absolutely fantastic employee,” resigned in June.
Fitzgerald said he was excited about the wealth of experience Simmons, a retired assessor who previously worked in Lynnfield, Belmont, and North Reading, brings to the town.
“He really has an extraordinary background in assessing,” Fitzgerald said in a telephone interview following the meeting. “[This is a] great way for Richard to continue to use his extraordinary assessing talents and help Swampscott with our very important responsibilities to make sure we have the proper and fair value for every property,” Fitzgerald said.
“He’s really a terrific individual and I think he’ll be able to make some immediate contributions,” Fitzgerald continued.
Simmons, 75, who moved to Swampscott in 2013 from Lynnfield, said he agreed to take on the role despite having retired in 2015 because he wanted to help the town.
“The town has some hurdles to get over,” he said. “[We’ve] taken in new growth, we need to establish that, revalue the town, take all that data and put it together to develop a new tax rate for the town and decide how he wants to treat that rate.”
He said his main goal as interim assessor was to facilitate that change as best he could.
Simmons also serves on the town’s conservation committee, which he said could be viewed as a conflict of interest, and, as a result, has filed for an exemption from the state to ensure that he can fill both positions.
One condition of his accepting the post, Simmons said, was that the town continue its search for a permanent assessor.
“This is not a long-term engagement,” he said. “This is a short-term engagement to help the town get through a problem.”
Simmons said he informed town officials he intends to move back into retirement at the end of February.
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected].
