Amy Sarro, Swampscott’s director of finance and administration, will step down from her role at the end of June after months of “back and forth” contract negotiations with the Select Board.

“We are sincerely grateful to Amy for her excellent work in Swampscott over the last five years,” interim Town Administrator Gino Cresta said. “While we are sorry to see her go, we wish her continued success and happiness in her new position.”

After five years in Swampscott, Sarro will leave at the end of June, leaving it vacant. She begins her new role as Newburyport’s finance director and city auditor on July 1. After about 15 months of discussion with the Select Board, “we couldn’t reach an agreement with regard to contract length and term.”

Select Board Chair Katie Phelan did not have further comment beyond Cresta’s statement. 

“I’m concerned about the difficulty the town will likely face to find a qualified replacement,” said Finance Committee Chair Eric Hartmann. “I’m disappointed that the Select Board did not prioritize coming to terms on a new contract after hers expired over a year ago, and I think her departure will impact both the search for and the onboarding of a new town administrator.”

Hartmann added that the ability to find “experienced talented finance staff” is scarce as they are in high demand in the current market.

“I worked really, really hard to build up this level of knowledge, this level of implicit trust with my colleagues and with the town,” Sarro said. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to this town. I hope the next town accountant they have is even better than me. I hope for that for my staff. I hope that for the residents.”

She also acknowledged that she’s “always had a really good relationship with the Select Board” but the “stars just didn’t align.”

Sarro’s introduction to Swampscott came during the Covid-19 pandemic, so much so that her first interview was in person and then her appointment took place over Zoom. 

“It was not just thrown into learning the role but also learning how to deal with federal emergency funds,” Sarro said. “There were a lot of moving parts. We had daily meetings to discuss different things.”

About three months after Sarro joined, the HR director resigned. With prior experience in human resources at Cambridge Packing, Sarro stepped in to help manage related responsibilities.

“I held that additional position for three and a half or four years,” Sarro said. 

About a year later, the town “had a huge tsunami of people resigning” from their positions. Sarro formed a working group of employees at different levels throughout the town administration. A survey was released to “see what we could do.” Sarro presented to the Select Board at the time about a push for four-day work weeks, “putting small happinesses in place” for quarterly anniversary celebrations “and little things like that.”

“It made such a difference, just seeing the life come back to Town Hall,” Sarro said. “I think that’s definitely the thing I’m proudest of.”

More recently, Sarro has had to face the transition between former Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald and interim Town Administrator Gino Cresta, particularly during budgeting season.

Cresta, who is the director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), was officially appointed into his position in December, and the next month he and Sarro met each day to organize a preliminary budget.

“It was challenging just because of the time of year. Even if we brought in an extremely tenured town administrator, they would have been walking right into the thick of budget season,” Sarro said. “In some ways it was a little easier with Gino because I like when someone asks questions.”

Cresta noted his experience with DPW budgets but added “this is an $83 million budget.” When he was interim town administrator from late 2016 to early 2017, it was not budget season.

“She had a lot of patience with me because some of the terms I didn’t know. She was phenomenal,” Cresta said. “If finance was my strength, I wouldn’t be worried as much. I’m definitely going to miss her, even on just a daily balance…We’re going to have to pick up these loose ends.”

Sarro, however, said it is an integral part of her job to make sure people understand what is happening within the budget.

“I want the residents and the taxpayers to understand what their taxes are,” Sarro said. “When they’re in Town Meeting, and they’re voting on the budget, I want them to have the fullest extent of knowledge of what they’re voting on and the impact it’s going to have.”

For that reason, Sarro worked with Newburyport to “delicately delay the process” so her presence would not be missed at the Town Meeting.

“I can’t let this town go into Town Meeting without coming there to answer them, especially in a year that we’re using excess town levy and all of those things,” Sarro said. “I needed them to have someone that they were used to seeing for the past 17 Town Meetings in front of them, answering their questions. It was something that was very important to me.”

She emphasized that understanding why financial policies are in place is more important than the technical side of calculations, the latter of which would apply to any town or city. This comprehension allowed Sarro to assist with building reserves, getting a new school in place and understanding the ins and outs of Swampscott. 

Sarro is still assisting the town going forward, by creating a vision for the next year and providing it to the interim town administrator and the Finance Committee. She is meeting with one of the CPA firms to discuss additional help for the town for state recording. The Department of Revenue combined balance sheets are due by Sept. 30 and “that’s a heavy haul.”

“I just want to stress how great the rest of the finance staff is…and how much they go above and beyond to make things happen,” Sarro said.

One idea Sarro offered is for Swampscott to have a Saturday session among department heads with the Select Board and Finance Committee about revenue forecasts so that the elected officials are involved at all stages.

“I don’t want this to drop off any more than necessary,” Sarro said.