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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-21 Board of Selectmen Minutes BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES February 21,2019 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Regina Kean called the meeting to order at 6:30PM in the Town Hall Meeting Room. The open session meeting was recorded. ATTENDANCE: The following were present: Chairman Regina Kean, Clerk Phil DeCologero, Licensing Chairman, Chris Nobile, Richard Vaillancourt, Rosemary Smedile, Acting Town Manager Lyne Savage, Assistant Town Manager, Denise Casey and Executive Assistant, Laurie Burzlaff. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CONSENT ITEMS Chairwoman Kean explained that it was discovered on Friday that former Assistant Town Manager, Raymond Santilli, is a consultant working for Community Paradigm Associates and she called the meeting to discuss whether the Board felt that was an issue. However, on February 19, 2018, Community Paradigm sent a letter to the Board withdrawing their proposal so there was no need to discuss the issue. The Board discussed whether they wanted to contract with Municipal Resources, Inc. The Board talked about the need for a background checks and also whether they believed the candidates need to complete an essay. Phil DeCologero made a MOTION, seconded by Richard Vaillancourt that the Board of Selectmen award the contract for an Executive Recruiting Consultant to Municipal Resources, Inc. for the Town Manager search. Motion approved 5-0. ADJOURNMENT Phil DeCologero made a MOTION, seconded by Chris Nobile to adjourn the meeting at 7:03p.m. Motion approved 5-0. Laurie A. Burzlaff Executive Assistant Phil DeCologero, Clerk of the Board Documents used at meeting: Letter from Community Paradigm 6*4^ COMMUNITY Ak PARADIGM ASSOCIATES, LLC February 19, 2019 Board of Selectmen Town of North Andover 120 Main Street North Andover, MA 01845 Dear Ms. Kean and members of the Board of Selectmen: Thank you for your recent choice of Community Paradigm Associates, LLC as your consultant in assisting for the search for a new Town Manager. We were excited by the opportunity to work for the Town on this effort. We learned of your decision in the afternoon of the next day and immediately forwarded a Letter of Engagement, which was amended by the Town and met with our approval. More importantly, especially given the aggressive timetable requested by the Town, we went to work on scheduling meetings with Board members and Division and Department heads, providing media releases for a community forum, organizing information about the Town for the Position Profile, forwarding to the Town a draft committee charge for the Screening Committee, and we began outreach to a number of individuals with whom we have working relationships and who would be strong candidates for the position. The recruiting project team had planned to spend several days in North Andover this week to conduct meetings and gather information in advance of the planned community forum and to keep the search process on track. We were surprised to learn on Friday afternoon that the process was being placed on hold thereby setting back the schedule by 1-2 weeks. We have built a reputation of providing a high level of quality service to all of our clients, and we have a number for whom we are now working. We are concerned that the delay in the schedule will impact these communities as well as North Andover. Accordingly, it may be best for us to withdraw ourselves from your search and allow you to choose another firm to assist you moving forward. We appreciate the Board's invitation to attend the February 21, 2019 Board of Selectmen's meeting. We, however, have previously scheduled meetings in the western part of the state on that date and cannot cancel prior long-standing commitments to our municipal clients. We would like to address Board members' comments regarding Mr. Raymond Santilli. Mr. Santilli, the retired Assistant Town Manager of North Andover, is currently an independent consultant. As an independent consultant, Mr. Santilli is assisting Community Paradigm Associates with a capital planning project in a Southeastern Massachusetts community located approximately 50 miles away from North Andover. To allow the Southeastern Massachusetts community members access to Mr. Santilli's background, his brief bio was placed on Community Paradigm Associates' website on February 12, 2019. "OMM illFfinn"' PARADIGM ASS One Saddleback,Plymouth,MA 02360 www.communityparadigm.com In our firm profile, Community Paradigm Associates lists the core group of independent consultants who regularly work on projects. Periodically, other independent consultants assist with projects and their names are listed on the website for a brief time during the ongoing project. However, only the core group of independent consultants are listed in the firm profile. Mr. Santilli's first meeting on the capital planning project was February 8, 2019. Community Paradigm Associate's North Andover executive recruiting proposal was completed on February 4, 2019 and submitted to North Andover on February 5, 2019. As noted, Mr. Santilli's brief bio was placed on Community Paradigm Associates' website on February 12, during the site's most recent update, for the benefit of our client community in Southeastern Massachusetts. Clearly, having Mr. Santilli's bio placed on the website was not an attempt to hide his affiliation with Community Paradigm Associates. It is our understanding, from a Board member, that Mr. Santilli's consulting in the Southeastern Massachusetts community was brought to North Andover's attention when he happened to mention it to a former colleague at Town Hall. It should be noted that nowhere in North Andover's executive recruiting RFQ does the Town request a listing of all employees, independent consultants and affiliates utilized by RFQ responders. Nor does it state that former North Andover employees cannot be affiliated in anyway with the responding firms. As is our custom, Community Paradigm Associates provided in our proposal a Firm Profile that includes the core group of independent consultants who regularly work on projects, and our clients. We additionally provided the names and resumes of the recruiting team that would work on the North Andover project, per the requirements of the Town's RFQ. Similarly, the RFQ responses received by North Andover from two other consulting firms do not list every independent consultant, employee, and affiliate associated with their firms. It is simply not standard practice, nor is it practical. During our interview with the Board, it was clearly stated that Community Paradigm Associates periodically utilizes a number of former municipal managers, human resources directors, finance directors, industry experts, and graduate students on various projects on an as-needed basis. Again, this is common practice in the consulting field. Community Paradigm Associates has always and will always conduct itself with the utmost integrity, placing the needs of our clients as our top priority. We wish you the best in find ing a new Town Manager for North Andover. Sincerelyo .µ ` ernard Lynw . Principal