Danvers Select Board Addresses Open Meeting Violation Complaint

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Select Board Chair Daniel Bennett on Tuesday night addressed an open meeting violation complaint filed against himself and the Board regarding an Oct. 15 executive session during which an interim town manager candidate was identified and subsequently announced later that night.

Resident Kevin Berich filed the complaint, asserting that the public was not given adequate notice about the executive session and its specific purpose, before adding during Tuesday night's meeting that the selection of the interim town manager for six months should have included more public discussion and debate.

He requested the Board release the minutes of the executive session, conduct a public hearing and vote on the interim town manager, and "commit to strict adherence with the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law."

Bennett said the Select Board would release the minutes and the Board pledged to adhere to the open meeting law. However, it did also move forward with offering a 15 percent stipend to Director of Administration and Finance Rodney Conley, who 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.

"I want to make clear that the reason for me filing the open meeting law complaint has nothing to do with the selection of Mr. Conley as the acting town manager," Berich said. "He seems like a logical choice. My objection is referring to the public not getting to hear the deliberation and witness the vote about the choice of Mr. Conley."

Berich said it would have been helpful for the public to hear the pros and cons of alternative department head candidates before the selection of Conley.

"Nothing against Mr. Conley," he reiterated. "It's really about the process and making sure we have public meetings about things that we are supposed to meet about publicly."

Bennett said at the Oct. 15 meeting that once a consulting company is secured to help conduct
the search for a permanent town manager that 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.

It is customary for search committee meetings not to be open to the public to protect the confidentiality of preliminary candidates for a position. Once the finalists are brought forth from the search committee, the interview process then includes disclosure of their identities, as well as public input and debate, before a vote of the Select Board on a preferred candidate for selection.

Bennett said on Oct. 15 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.

(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.)