Town Manager

by marktripp Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:17 pm

ARTICLE XVIII
Town Manager
Section 1. Appointment and Tenure. The town manager shall be appointed by the board of selectmen, no later than the 2^{nd Thursday of June, in such years as a vacancy exists, to serve until the next annual organizational meeting of the board of selectmen; provided that if such action be considered advisable, the board of selectmen shall have the power to execute with any town manager, after he shall have served in such capacity for 1 year, a contract of employment for a period not to exceed 3 years. Any such contract shall be drawn, however, so as to expire on the date of an annual or organizational meeting of the board of selectmen.}Town of Rumford Charter.Revised 11.07.2006 22
Section 2. Qualifications. No person shall be appointed town manager unless he presents an acceptable record of previous training or experience in the administration of municipal affairs; he is an American citizen of unquestioned allegiance; he is of voting age, and he is mentally, physically and temperamentally fitted to actively perform the duties of the office and available for full time service. He need not be, at the time of his appointment, a resident of the town or of the state.
Section 3. Powers and Duties. The town manager shall be the chief executive officer and the administrative head of the town government. Subject to the provisions of this act and the bylaws of the town, he shall be responsible to the board of selectmen, as its agent, for the proper administration of the affairs of the town which fall within his jurisdiction, in conformance with the policies of the board as recorded in its meetings. In the performance of these functions, he is hereby specifically charged with the following duties:
(1) To appoint, prescribe the duties of and remove all employees of the town who are under his jurisdiction.
(2) To inform and keep the board currently advised of the financial condition of the town, and of its current and future needs; to prepare and present, when pertinent, tolerably accurate estimates of costs and factual information; and from time to time to make such recommendations to the board as he may deem necessary and helpful.
(3) To attend all meetings of the board and act as its secretary, except at such times as his own employment may be under consideration.
(4) To exercise general supervision, direction and control over the affairs of the town, excepting the school, and subject to such limitations as are contained in this act or in the bylaws of the town, and to coordinate the activities of all departments and officials so far as may be possible.
(5) To act as a channel through which communications, recommendations, complaints, requests for legal opinions and guidance, and general information shall pass to, from and between the board of selectmen and the various departments and officials.
(6) To act as purchasing agent for all departments, boards, commissions and officials, except the school department which he shall serve in such capacity only as the superintendent may request, to the end that the town may obtain the advantages of generally accepted Town of Rumford Charter.Revised 11.07.2006 23
purchasing methods based on standardized specifications, competitive prices and volume purchases.
(7) To cause to be prepared by the various departments, agencies, boards, commissions and officials, as soon as may be, a catalog of all town property within the control of each, from which he shall prepare a complete basic inventory of all town property, including real estate, machinery, vehicles, equipment, tools, materials and supplies, all items of which shall be identified, when possible, by description, make, number, model or other distinguishing label, which said inventory, when completed, shall be filed with the town clerk, and thereafter to cause the same to be revised and adjusted in all categories at the end of each fiscal year.
( Cool

To perform and discharge such other functions and duties as may be prescribed by this act, by the by-laws of the town or as may be assigned to him from time to time by the hoard of selectmen.

(9) To be responsible for the enforcement of all of the by-laws, ordinances and codes of the town and to this end the manager or his authorized representative shall be the chief By-law and Code Enforcement Officer.

by marktripp Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:18 pm

After reding the underlined section it raised a few questions to me. How did the selectmen just appoint Mr. Greaney as Town Manager?

by C Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:57 pm

I wonder too how why is that they are not looking for a replacement for the "interim" manager? There are many things here in Rumford that aren't being done according the the bylaws and charter since 3 particular men have been together on the BOS. They've demonstrated that they don't believe those documents apply to them at least in the way most would interpret.

by Mark_Henry Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:35 pm

marktripp wrote:After reading the underlined section it raised a few questions to me. How did the selectmen just appoint Mr. Greaney as Town Manager?

I will assume that your question revolves around the first part of the sentence - the part that calls for previous training or experience in the administration of municipal affairs. As with many of Rumford's Articles, the challenge is that it is unenforceable as written - what is an acceptable record of previous training or experience? What is the minimum amount of training needed; does it need to be formal school training, or is on-the-job acceptible; what about training provided by MMA? What experience should they have and how much? Would being on the canopy committee constitute municipal experience?

As written, Article 18 Section 2 provides no litmus test or guidance for identifying a qualified applicant. However, maybe that was on purpose? Perhaps it was written this way to allow some leeway in the selection process, so that applicant's with other experience - perhaps commercial such as Mr Greaney has - could be considered?

The unfortunate reality is that many of Maine's towns are plagued by similar articles or ordinances that provide little or no guidance, or create rules with no penalties and therefore no way to enforce them. Many, such as this one, are probably unenforceable in court. Worse still, many of Maine's statutes are written in the same fashion.

Mark Henry

by Timeout Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:55 pm

"No person shall be appointed town manager unless he presents an acceptable record of previous training or experience in the administration of municipal affairs;"

Read that sentence again Mark H. - the last part says "...in the administration of municipal affairs". It doesn't say as you put it "...an acceptable record of training or experience." Omission of the last part of the sentence fits your thoughts but that's not all of what it says.

Is the meta-conversation about whether we like Mr. Greaney or not? For myself I like him personally. I went to see him recently and found him to be a receptive listener who takes the good and the bad in stride. I think Len handles many situations very well, although I would like to see him do better with town personnel. In my opinion Len might try to shelf his own perceptions about various groups and become more neutral in order to effectively deal with personnel issues. It would be a real challenge for any manager.

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