BOS: Deadlines for Warrant Articles, Mass DOT hearing and Town Administrator evaluation

Some more highlights out of this week’s Board of Selectmen meeting.

Town Administrator Mark Purple’s performance evaluation was ratified by the Board of Selectmen this week.  Once again, the TA got high marks from the board. The evaluation was discussed in open session, avoiding a repeat of last year’s controversy.

But before I get into details on this year’s performance, a couple other quick notes from the meeting:

• Selectmen officially opened the Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting to take place on April 11th. There wasn’t any discussion, but a follow up tweet from the Town is worth noting:

Got a citizen petition article? It’ll be due by November 16 (money articles) or Jan 5 (no funding req).

• Selectwoman Bonnie Phaneuf invited the public to attend a Mass Department of Transportation hearing at the Senior Center on Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00 pm. MassDOT will be addressing the resurfacing of Route 9 and related work.

Now, for the review – 

Chair John Rooney introduced the evaluation of the man sitting to his left Tuesday night:

It’s always a challenge to talk about somebody when that somebody is sitting directly sitting next to you. But in this instance it’s an easy discussion. . .

Mark has performed above and beyond, I think, each member of this board’s expectations in dealing with issues that come before him effectively, efficiently. . . expeditiously and the words of his evaluations express that.

Rooney went on to thank him for the work he does on vacations, weekends, nights, etc.

Comments in the written evaluation appreciated Purple’s willingness to own his duties and obligations, and:

he also “owns” the shorfalls in Town operations, and addresses them with candor even as he works to limit them.

In what could be a related comment, the evaluation shed light on another employee’s review. One comment credited Purple’s close work with Public Works Superintendent Karen Galligan improving her performance:

The review from the previous year was not good, with many areas of improvent that were identified. Mark worked with Karen through the year and instilled confidence in her which resulted in a much stronger perfomance from her, and . . . much improved performance review this year.

As for areas of improvement, one comment challenged Purple to objectively disagree with them more:

If he has a particular issue with a Board member or an issue with how a matter is being handled, there should be no reluctance to engage in full discourse. In other words, saying what needs to be said rather than saying what needs to be heard.

Tuesday night’s discussion was a round of public kudos by each member of the board, followed by Purple’s thanks to his team and the board.

Purple credited his “great team” for making the year easier:

We have a great team. I enjoy coming to work because I enjoy the people that I work with. I enjoy the management team that we put together. I enjoy the people that work in these departments. And I enjoy the passion with which they do their jobs and they serve the town

He also said that he had a “good board” to work with. Rooney countered that it was a “great board”. He praised his colleagues for their efforts.

The Chair said that the five of them may not always do the right thing, but they always try. And he said that when they disagree on an issue, they keep it professional and move on.

To see Purple’s posted evaluation, click here. As for his salary, that was set last spring. In May, the board awarded a new three-year contract to Purple with a set 3% increase effective this month.