Timeline For Foxboro Town Manager Hire Develops

FOXBOROUGH, MA — The search for a new town manager is Foxborough is underway, and the Board of Selectmen and residents were given a peek into the process at a recent special meeting.

Bernie Lynch, of Community Paradigm Associates, is the town's lead consultant in the search for the town's next manager and presented a projected timeline at the Aug. 22 meeting, which includes a potential appointment coming sometime in January.

The new candidate will replace retiring Town Manager William Keegan, who's contract runs through Jan. 29, 2023.

But there is wiggle room.

A clause in Keegan's contract, which pays an annual base salary of $218,972, includes an agreement that will keep him on as a "special municipal employee" until another town manager is found.

With the expected timeline he presented recently, Lynch doesn't expect that to be necessary, however.

"I'm very optimistic that with a town like Foxboro, with such a good reputation that it has, with the challenges that it presents, the opportunities that it presents, that we'll be able to get you some good candidates," Lynch said.

Community Paradigm has done roughly 90 candidate searches in his time in this world, and he said he feels confident in their process.

That process includes working with towns to find what they need in a town manager. Lynch and Community Paradigm will likely work in coordination with a subcommittee of seven people to screen applicants for the town manager job.

Lynch has experience not only searching for candidates in these roles but also in doing the job himself. Most recently he was the city manager in Lowell, a position he held for eight years. He was also the first town manager of Chelmsford.

Timeline

Lynch presented a slide at the meeting which lays out hypothetical dates and benchmarks that his firm and the town can meet to have a new town manager appointed by the end of Keegan's contract.

In that hypothetical, applications would be accepted until early November while the town markets and advertises the position.

Resumes would be reviewed from October through early November, and semifinalists could be selected by late November.

At that point, interviews with the screening committee could take place, which would of course lead to the selection of finalists and follow-up interviews with those candidates.

Optional community and town staff forums could be hosted, and then a decision, in this hypothetical timeline, could be made by the end of January 2023.