Marblehead Town Administrator Awarded 3-Year Contract Extension

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Three years after Thatcher Kezer came to Marblehead as its new town administrator following a mayoral stint in Amesbury and a career as a lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, the Select Board on Wednesday voted to offer Kezer a three-year contract extension to continue what Select Board Chair Erin Noonan called "your strategic thinking and visioning."

Kezer's first three years in the town have included a failed tax override bid and two years of streamlining and modernizing as the town has attempted to deal with a structural deficit that Kezer inherited. This past fall, Kezer was on the forefront of negotiations during the 11-day teachers' strike and also negotiated collective bargaining agreements with police and municipal employees.

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"You've really left a big footprint here with a lot of different initiatives that you've started," Noonan said. "I think it was (Select Board member) Brett (Murphy) who said it's been a while since we've had a town administrator who didn't just plug-and-play. And who is thinking creatively about strategically reorganizing within the financial constraints that we have, as well as what the emerging and modern needs of the town are."

Select Board member Moses Grader said Kezer is one of the main reasons he said he has "never been more optimistic about the town than I am now."

"You have been able to bring a level of sophistication and strategy around how to restructure the town without an override, making use of the resources that we have," he said.

Kezer said he has enjoyed his time in the seaside town, even if "it doesn't look like it sometimes," and that any initial trepidation about working for a five-member Select Board after working mostly in city government and the military has been offset by his working relationships with past and present Board members.

"One of the things I am most proud in the last three years is the team that we built and the collaboration of the team," he said. "Everyone's vision is toward making Marblehead better.

"Make it work and make it better. Not just showing up for a job."

(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.)