The Brattleboro Selectboard is working at a steady pace to hire a new Town Manager for Brattleboro. The list of applicants has been narrowed over the last month or so, and we’re approaching time for final interviews and a decision. We could be welcoming someone on board within a month.
What skills and attributes do we want in our next Town Manager? What could we do without?
The Brattleboro team that our new Town Manager would be joining is at the top of their proverbial game, having dealt with major infrastructure improvements, fires, floods, and FEMA in recent years. They are very capable, well-trained, and will be an excellent resource for whomever is hired. It takes a bit of the pressure off the new recruit.
We have a new Town Plan to implement, and are looking toward an uncertain future with climate change, an aging population, closure of a nuclear plant, and a dysfunctional national government, to name but a few of the issues we could confront in the next decade. Whomever we choose, he or she should like big challenges.
Money and budgets remain tight. It’s likely that the Selectboard will be proposing cuts to town services to help keep taxes down for property owners. Our new Town Manager might benefit from penny-pinching skills, or the ability to be creative with limited funds.
And then there are all of us., the crazy citizenry who live here in town. A sense of humor, an enjoyment of diversity, and a good BS detector could be useful to a new hire.
We like to balance tradition with looking to the future. We are conservative and cutting edge. We want everything to be excellent, and don’t want to pay much for it. Perhaps someone with a split personality could thrive as our Town Manager. : )
What are we looking for? Jane and Michael Banks sum it up quite well, I think:
