Town Administrator Candidate Emphasizes Engagement

In his interview with selectmen on Wednesday, Thomas Younger stressed his track record of being fully involved in his job over the past 30 years.

He recalled his successes, including six balanced budgets without overrides in six years in Belmont, road and sidewalk infrastructure improvements at each stop and establishing longterm capital and financial planning.

He also recounted failed efforts at regionalization and did not promise to pull a rabbit out of his hat when asked if he had any special ideas for getting additional Chapter 70 funding for the town.

Younger did say he would be fully engaged in the process whether that meant pressing legislators for funding, staying extra hours to talk to residents, going to town events or dealing in good faith on collective bargaining agreements.

The president of the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association is now the interim town manager in Ipswich and previously was the town administrator in Belmont and North Reading.

He told selectmen that it is his practice to keep selectmen informed about issues, initiatives and media inquiries and to meet with department heads the morning after each selectmen's meeting to relay the board's discussions.

"I'm an activist manager," he said.

He also said he was an community advocate.

"It is very important to be the face of the Board of Selectmen and the face of the town," he said.

Selectmen will meet with all three finalists in private next week.

On Monday the board interviewed Swampscott resident Gerard Perry, Director of Accounts for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and Christopher Senior, the deputy town supervisor of the town of North Hempstead, NY.