The Board of Selectmen were presented with a citizen petition warrant article, which would ask voters if they support changing a Town Administrator to a Town Manager during its Jan. 9 meeting.
It was explained by Town Administrator, Steve Malizia, that the Town Manager role has different responsibilities than a Town Administrator. He added that the main difference between the two forms of governments is that with a Town Manager, they have more power under RSA than a Town Administrator does.
For example, a Town Manager is responsible for hiring and firing employees and doesn’t need to get approval by the Board of Selectmen, unlike the current system.
“It’s more day to day for a lack of a better word,” Malizia said.
He noted that the town is the ninth largest community in NH and there are communities smaller than Hudson that have Town Managers.
Chair, Marilyn McGrath, said she has concerns about the proposal based on past experiences.
“It’s too bad Mr. Oates didn’t live in town at the time we had a Town Manager. It’s too bad he didn’t live in town when we had the Town Council form of government. Now there is a petition warrant article to go back to the Town Manager form,” McGrath said.
Malizia said the town has been under a Town Administrator form of government for over 30 years.
Selectman, Bob Guessferd, said the size of the town has a lot to do with it, and pointed out that before they had a smaller population when they had a Town Manager, and now with the size of the community they potentially would be large enough to have various different types of government, including potentially a mayor, but said, “I’m not sure they would be the right form for our town.”
With Town Managers, Malizia said one thing that could potentially happen is going through them more often than with a Town Administrator since they have more day to day responsibilities and are able to make more decisions without the Board of Selectmen approval.
“You’re probably going to go through Town Managers more often,” Malizia said, explaining that they would still answer to someone, the Board of Selectmen.
Selectman, David Morin, said he is concerned with the voice of the community being taken away, by going to a system where one person is able to make day to day decisions more often, explaining that he thinks they should look at having a mayor instead.
“Let them have the voice,” Morin said.
Malizia explained that even with the mayor position, there are different forms. For example, in Nashua and Manchester, it’s a “traditional mayor” role where some communities have a mayor, but also have a professional Town or City Manager.
The Selectmen ultimately voted 4-1 to recommend the warrant article, with McGrath voting against it.
McGrath said she voted against it because she was active in the community when they had other forms of government and “none of them were good.”
If the warrant article passes the current Town Administrator would resume the role, until they either retire, or leave the position.