Challenger from Ashland voted down despite broad experience
Adam W. Chapdelaine, who has been second in command to Brian Sullivan since April 2010, was appointed Arlington’s new town manager in a 5-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen. The 32-year-old will begin his new duties Feb. 24, the day after Sullivan, who has led the town for nine years, retires.
The vote came after the board interviewed Chapdelaine and John D. Petrin, Ashland town manager, for about 45 minutes each.
All selectmen said both candidates were equally qualified, but, on balance, Chapdelaine came out on top.
The new manager’s pay and benefits backage remains to be negotiated. Chapdelaine was making $103,000 a year when he became deputy town manager in April 2010. Sullivan is paid about $161,000 annually.{jcomments on}
The process was national in scope, but in the end, it came down to the finalist the selectmen knew best.
Chapdelaine “had a two-year interview,” Selectman Kevin Greeley said.
“We knew Adam better,” board Chair Clarissa Rowe noted, explaining that “we decided to have a full-blown search because of concerns about his age.”
She added that Donald Marquis, who was town manager for 34 years, was 29 years old when he began the job in 1966.
The search process, aided by MMA Consulting of Brookline, fielded 40 candidates from across the country. That list was whittled to seven, and, after withdrawals, two finalists from Massachusetts emerged.
After public, televised interviews Monday, Jan. 30, of the two each selectman explained his or her choice.
Only Diane Mahon expressed clear enthusiasm for Petrin, in his early 50s, who has more experience than Chapdelaine. (Patrin declined to confirm his age.)
“I can see either” as manager, she said, echoing her colleagues. “I was excited by John,” adding that “Adam has the edge in what we want to move forward.”
Chapdelaine showed that edge, selectmen said, despite low-key responses tinged with nervousness, which Rowe noted as a positive.
Petrin was loquacious, expansive and straightforward. In response to a question from Dan Dunn, he said there were some in Ashland with whom he had crossed swords but said he was not being forced out.
Dunn, who works in IT, said Chapdelaine won him over with his answer about the role technology expects to play as a change agent in the town’s future and just about buying computers.
Greeley cited Chapdelaine’s love for Arlington, where he and wife have lived for about a year. The deputy manager had expressed that love in his interview after Greeley prodded him.
Annie LaCourt said she was “a little worried” about the field following private interviews of candidates, but she concluded that Chapdelaine was the best when she considered “the totality of the package.”
Among the topics both interviewees faced were ways to address the town’s structural deficit of $3 million to $4 million, collective bargaining, leadership style, economic development and what each do in his first month as manager.
If you missed the answers to these issues during the live broadcast on ACMi’s Government Channel, you can catch up. Later in the week of Jan. 30, the Arlington cable-TV studio plans to post the meeting in its Video-On-Demand section.
Jan. 18, 2012: Background on finalists
This story was first reported at 9:15 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, and updated the next day.
