Rutland Herald
KILLINGTON — Residents are invited to give their input Thursday on replacing the town manager who was fired last month.
An open meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Killington Town Hall to discuss an interim town manager and the formation of a search committee, according to Select Board Chairman Stephen Finneron.
The contract of the previous town manager, Deborah Schwartz, was terminated “without cause” late last month.
“We didn’t list a particular reason, because if the board gives a reason, that opens the issue to … challenge and litigation,” Finneron said.
He said the ideal candidate for the new town manager would have some accounting background and be familiar with coordinating budgets for voters.
A search committee comprising a Select Board member, a member of the Killington Pico Area Association, a town employee and two Killington residents will be formed to help select potential town manager candidates.
“We’re hoping members will act on behalf of their organization, as well as two at-large residents who live here who understand what’s going on,” Finneron said.
“The committee will do interviews, and eventually the Select Board will hire the person, but they won’t dominate the process,” he said. “We want a cross-section of people to decide.”
Finneron said he doesn’t know yet which member of the Select Board will serve on the search committee. That will be decided Thursday.
The board announced its decision to form a search committee a week ago. Anyone interested in serving has until Friday to submit a letter, according to the town website, and the search committee will be announced April 24.
Finneron said though the position is known to be open, it has not been advertised yet and no one has approached the Select Board.
He said he hopes to find a manager by July or August, ideally by the start of the next fiscal year, but a lot of factors are involved and the board intends to “take the time to do it right.”
“We’re looking for someone with the best interests in mind for the town,” Finneron said. “We want someone to take ownership of the job, someone who won’t wait for others to do the job for them.”
He said it also helps if the candidate is familiar with the New England climate and the small-town way of life.
Killington can be inundated with as many as 15,000 people on some weekends, and the town is in the process of developing a partnership with Killington Ski Resort. Finneron said the Select Board is looking for a way to bring more people who will come to the town and stay, and a town manager who will support that.
The town recently underwent a series of improvements to town buildings, including a new roof for the town library and maintenance on the town garage, and the town wants to consolidate and organize multiple payments.
Consolidating the budget is one of the bigger issues that the new manager will face, along with revitalizing the aging infrastructure of the resort town, Finneron said.
“If people know where their money is going, they’re more certain of it,” he said. “We want everything up front.”
Killington’s newest project would also be a priority for the new town manager. The town voted to build a new public safety building on Killington Road in the next few years to keep the fire department, police department, first responders and search-and-rescue in one space so they can better support each other and pool resources, Finneron said.
A committee has been put in place to interview architects and design managers for the building, and next week the town will put out a request for proposals to companies interested in being a part of the project, which won’t begin for more than a year, Finneron said.
“We want a proposal to go out at the meeting before Town Meeting Day to go on the March ballot,” he said.
katelyn.barcellos@rutlandherald.com
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