The Town Administrator Search Committee is sending out a survey to gauge Swampscott residents’ opinions on the next town administrator, though one committee member called the process “performative.”
Peter Spellios, a member of the search committee, warned his peers that the public responses may not be the most helpful. He did add that he had no issue with receiving community participation. Spellios’ concerns focused on how the survey was worded.
Questions on the survey include a ranking of the “most essential” characteristics of a town administrator as well as the priorities of the position.
“I think if it’s a data collection tool, we’re not collecting a lot of data here,” Spellios said at the meeting on Monday, May 5. “What I want is data that’s actually helpful data as opposed to confirming obvious things that we didn’t need a survey to do.”
Spellios was against the intentions of a question ranking important characteristics of a potential town administrator because “there isn’t a single (trait) on here that if they could pick all of them would pick.”
“You literally just described everybody’s expectation for almost every employee,” Spellios said.
John Giantis, another member of the committee, also said he did not see “any upside in doing this,” pointing to the difficulty of analyzing potentially overwhelming open-ended responses.
Committee Chair Heather Roman suggested the survey would help Rick White, of Groux White Consulting, to guide his conversations with potential candidates. White did say that he was able to find “very few” other towns who have conducted similar surveys in their town administrator searches.
“The second purpose would be just legitimately to include the community in this process,” Roman said, adding that the Select Board has pushed for the survey as well. “I do feel pressured to collect community input…I’m all for collecting community input if it is informing our work.”
Select Board Member Danielle Leonard re-iterated her stance on Wednesday at the Select Board meeting, calling for the community’s input since the hiring process is potentially the “biggest decision” Swampscott has had to make in recent years.
Leonard suggested the Town Administrator Search Committee hosts in person meetings for people who would like to physically fill out a survey, at common places like the library and senior center. She also noted the potential for a QR code to the survey at the Town Meeting later this month as well as the use of the town’s robocall system to remind people to fill in their responses.
“My biggest concern is that the community is actively engaged as much as possible,” Leonard said. “I just want to make sure we’re leaving no stone unturned.”
Committee Member Tivan Amour, who created the first draft of the survey with Roman, said at Monday’s meeting if the group ends up with three candidates who are pretty equal but one has stronger financial management skills, the survey could come into play to acknowledge that “we actually know that the community cares about that more than anything else.”
“This is supposed to be a tool for us to be able to make some decisions one way or the other,” Amour said. “When we have to make hard decisions, we want to have as much data available as possible.”
The committee reworded some of the questions and made the overall survey shorter. The survey will be released Friday, May 9, and will remain open through Monday, May 26.
The search and survey follows former Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald’s resignation in late 2024. His contract was set to expire in June, but Fitzgerald agreed to a paid leave of absence for the last few months.
The Town Administrator Search Committee was established to solicit and evaluate applications for the lead position. The five-member committee has met regularly since late February.
On May 26, a job posting will be made to advertise the town administrator opening, and interviews are expected to start on July 21.
At its May 5 meeting, the search committee said it plans to present its recommended top candidates to the Select Board on August 4.
