Danvers Down To 2 Town Manager Finalists, Interviews Wednesday Night

DANVERS, MA — The field of finalists to become the next Danvers town manager is down to two with public interviews and a potential Select Board vote on a new town manager set for Wednesday night.

Gloucester Chief Administrative Officer Jill Cahill and former Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald are the remaining finalists after the third finalist, Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin withdrew from consideration to stay in Belmont.

The public interviews will be at the Danvers Senior Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. with a possible vote on a successor to Steve Bartha, who left the town in October to become the town manager in Lexington, either to follow the interviews or be held on Tuesday.

The interviews will be aired on DCAT on delay to preserve the integrity of the process for each candidate.

There were 31 applicants for the town manager position. The selection process whittled the field to 11 candidates, then seven, before the three finalists were revealed publicly at last Tuesday's Select Board meeting.

Cahil has served in that position since January 2022 and previously served that city as its Community Development Director from 2017 to 2021. She is also the former Chief of Staff of State Sen. President Karen Spilka.

Fitzgerald was the administrative leader in that town for seven years before stepping down in December, in the final months leading up to the expiration of his contract. He previously served as the town administrator in Plaistow, NH for nine years and was the Chief of Staff in the Peabody Mayor's Office for seven years. Fitzgerald also served as the MAPC Regional Services Coordinator from 1995 to 2001.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)