Danvers Interim Town Manager Appointed, Timeline Outlined

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Director of Administration and Finance Rodney Conley will serve as the interim town manager for the next six months upon the departure of Steve Bartha, who is leaving the town to become the new town manager in Lexington.

Select Board Chair Daniel Bennett said Conley's experience in finance makes him the ideal choice to serve as the interim town manager while a permanent replacement for Bartha is found.

Bennett said Conley will receive a 15 percent stipend on top of his salary for his extra duties during that time.

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He outlined the search process to replace Bartha, who emerged last month as the Lexington Select Board's choice as that town's new chief executive, and who presented his formal resignation on Oct. 9 upon completion of contract negotiations.

Bennett said that once a consulting company is secured to help conduct the search he and Select Board member Maureen Bernard would serve on a search committee, along with other town members to be announced, to bring forth finalists to the Select Board for interviews and recommendation for hire.

He said that he anticipates the search process to continue through January and February with finalists chosen and public interviews taking place in March.

He concluded that, hopefully, this would result in the hiring of a new permanent town manager in late March or early April.

Tuesday night's Select Board meeting, which included an emotional public comment around the assault of a special needs resident in the Plains Park and middle school area this weekend, was also Bartha's final as town manager.

"Serving as the Danvers town manager for the past 10 years has been the honor of my career," Bartha said. "I've made more than my fair share of mistakes. And as we heard at the beginning of the night, not everybody is going to be sad to see me leave Danvers. That's expected when you work in a place for 10 years.

"This can be a very lonely job. But it's also an incredibly rewarding job."

Bartha said he intends to continue to raise his family in the town and thanked town staff for all that was accomplished over the past decade.

"I am leaving with mixed emotions," he said. "It is bittersweet. My kids grew up here. We chose to make this our home 10 years ago. And we're not going anywhere anytime soon. I am going to have to get used to commuting again for the first time in a long time.

"But we have enjoyed every ... we have enjoyed almost every minute of being here."

(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.)