Ashland manager, Arlington deputy vie for job

Public interviews of two candidates to be Arlington's next town manager were held starting at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30. The unprecedented event here, to be televised on cable, will be in the selectmen chambers, on the second floor of Town Hall.

Town manager candidates have not been publicly interviewed before in Arlington, but that is happening under new provisions, adopted in 2010, of the state's Open Meeting Law. They are competing to assume the position that Brian Sullivan will leave next month after nine years on the job.

A news release Jan. 18 from selectmen's office said town officials, working with the municipal placement consulting firm MMA Consulting Group, narrowed the pool to the finalists -- Adam W. Chapdelaine and John D. Petrin.

Suggested questions welcomed

The selectmen welcomed suggested questions from Arlington residents to include in the televised interviews of the finalists. Each finalist will be interviewed for about one hour each.

These questions were to be sent to the selectmen's office by noon Friday, Jan. 27, to be incorporated into the list of questions for Monday night. Submissions can be mailed to Selectmen’s Office, 730 Mass. Ave., Arlington, MA or emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The interviews will be broadcast live on ACMi’s Government Channel, with rebroadcasts during the week as regular Selectmen meetings. ACMi will also be posting the meeting in its Video-On-Demand section later in the week. For more information, visit acmi.tv.

In reaction to the news about two finalists, Len Kardon asked on the Arlington email list Jan. 18 whether a semifinalist could be added, noting that in last year's school-superintendent search a third candidate had withdrawn.

Selectmen Annie LaCourt responded on the list: "We had 8 finalists previous to the private interviews. Due to candidates dropping out, we ended up interviewing 5. The board was in agreement on the 3 finalists.

"I would not be willing to reconsider either of the other two candidates we interviewed.

"The two finalists that we do have are both excellent and either would be a great choice. This is not comparable to the superintendent search in that I don't think there are better candidates out there that we are missing at this point."

Adam W. Chapdelaine

With 10 years of government experience, he has been the Arlington deputy town manager for about two years. Before working here, he the city administrator for Fall River, Mass.

He has served as the director of community services and chairman of the Board of Elections before his appointment as city administrator. He has also worked for the Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board and served for a number of years as deputy chief of staff for budget and constituent services for the office of the majority whip, Massachusetts State Senate. He has also served as a legislative aide for the office of the majority whip.

Chapdelaine holds a bachelor of arts degree and a master of business administration degree. He is a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, and the Massachusetts Government Finance Officers Association.

John D. Petrin

He has abouty 25 years of government experience and has been the town manager of Ashland, Mass., for the last seven years. Before serving as town manager, Petrin served for about four years as the assistant superintendent of schools for the City of Marlborough, Mass. He served as the Town Administrator in Harvard, Mass., for 13 years, and the town administrator in Pepperell, Mass., for three years. He has also served as a tax assessor and elected park commissioner in Bellingham, Mass.

Petrin holds a bachelor of arts degree and a master's degree in public administration. He is
a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the
Massachusetts Municipal Management Association.

He received certification as a credentialed manager by the ICMA in 2009. He has also served on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Local Government Advisory Committee, and has been active on a number of regional and statewide boards and commissions, including the Metropolitan Boston Emergency Medical Services Council and the
Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

Third candidate withdraws

Resumes of these two finalists can be viewed online at arlingtonma.gov. A third candidate
withdrew just before this announcement, the news release said.

See the resumes here: Chapdelaine and Petrin

Earlier in January, Selectmen Chair Clarissa Rowe said 40 candidates had applied to replace Sullivanr, who is retiring in February. Many are from Massachusetts; others are from Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Rowe then said that the field of 40 would be narrowed to six to 10 candidates. She wrote in an email Jan. 4: "We are having the nonpublic interviews during the next couple of weeks and expect to set up the public ones after these are completed."

On Jan. 11, The Advocate quoted Rowe that town officials would interview seven candidates for the position of town manager, which will become vacant next month when Brian Sullivan retires.

MMA Consulting, based in Brookline and hired by the town to assist with the job search, had received 40 applications and trimmed the list.

The Advocate quoted Rowe as saying she and Selectman Kevin Greeley added some candidates from the pool of 40 and had settled on eight people to interview. Rowe told the weekly one had withdrawn, the remaining seven would have nonpublic interviews in January and that town officials would choose three finalists.

Selectmen met in closed session at 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 14, to screen candidates.

On Jan. 18, Rowe told YourArlington that two had dropped out.

As to the 40-candidate response to the manager opening as compared to the search in 2002-3 after Phil Farrington left, Rowe wrote that "we might have had more applicants this time by about five people."

Sullivan said in September that he will retire in February after starting at manager in 2003. His salary is about $161,000.

Boston.com reported in November that the consultant will be paid almost $14,000 to assist with the search process, including candidate outreach, accepting and reviewing applications and recommending candidates for preliminary interviews.

The town is also expecting additional costs, including advertising, related to the search. The salary range for the next town manager is still being determined, according to the selectmen’s office.

Oct. 13: Updated Open Meeting Law to affect town manager search

 This story was first published Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, and updated at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, then the next day and on Jan. 30.