Selectmen question new senior center director and town Administrator's hiring procedure
Published on July 12th, 2000
Stoneham, MA- Seconds into the July 11 selectmen's meeting, Selectmen Darin Leahy moved to reconsider the appointment of the Senior Center Director, Jane Lavender.
Lavender started July 10.
Selectman Bob Sweeney seconded the motion, and then Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello challenged the motion, asking Town Counsel Bill Solomon if the board could reconsider the appointment. Ciccarello had voted to reject Lavender at the June 12 meeting.
Solomon said that the seven working days during which the board could have rejected the appointment had elapsed. Under the Town Administrator Act, the board no longer has the authority to reject or remove Lavender.
Leahy withdrew his motion and made a motion of no confidence in the personnel policies of Town Administrator Jeff Nutting.
When Nutting hired Lavender in June the selectmen argued about her appointment for a little while and then voted down a motion to reject her. Leahy voted with Al Conti and Chairman Pat Jordan not to reject — a de facto approval.
"My vote (June 12) was based on the recommendation of the Town Administrator, which was inaccurate and incomplete," Leahy said.
Ciccarello identified the need for a new administrative procedure that would inform and involve the selectmen more actively in the hiring process.
Sweeney said he and Nutting are already working on it.
"I think we can have a draft of something in a week," Sweeney said.
Nutting agreed.
"Will it work?" Leahy asked.
"It has to. One way or another," Sweeney said.
Leahy withdrew his second motion.
The board plans to address the town hiring process at the next meeting, July 18.
No one at the meeting discussed the substance behind concerns with Lavender.
She is involved in a dispute with a Lynnfield selectman over alleged harassment.
But Lavender's past employers, the Lynnfield Council on Aging and Melrose Council on Aging, have nothing bad to say about her.
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