Selectmen Reviewing Town Manager Recruiter Proposals

Selectmen planned a special meeting yesterday to discuss proposals from companies interested in helping with the permanent town manager search and possibly vote on which firm to hire, but after seeing the proposals they decided to take some time to evaluate them.

Five companies sent proposals to Human Resources Director Cathy Darby, who suggested rating each one from 1 to 10 in multiple categories -- including the company's experience, proposed methodology and timeline of search completion.

The five proposals submitted are lengthy, so Darby also suggested taking time to evaluate each one.

“I think it’s too much," Human Resources Director Cathy Darby said. "I think unless you’re going to be here until midnight, scoring five proposals might be a bit much.”

So selectmen will review the proposals over the weekend and meet Monday night to discuss them and decide on which firm to hire. Monday will be the first day on the job for interim Town Manager James Purcell, to temporarily fill the town manager role since Town Manager Mark Rees will be leaving for his on June 30.

Here are the five companies that sent proposals:

Some of these companies are familiar to North Andover.

Purcell was recommended by The Collins Center for Public Management at UMass-Boston. This past Monday night, Richard Kobayashi, senior consultant at the Collins Center,

MMA Consulting is already in a contract with the town in its police chief search. That process will also be evaluated at Monday night's meeting.

Groux and Associates is the firm that assisted with the town manager search process almost 11 years ago when Mark Rees was picked. And Colin Baenziger & Associates is the company that recruited Rees for the city manager job for Portland this year.