By Carol Britton Meyer

The select board this week interviewed nine of 11 total applicants for the two citizen spots on the town manager semifinalist committee that will work with the consultant to interview candidates for Hull’s top job.

Current Town Manager Philip Lemnios is retiring at the end of June. The application deadline for the town manager position was April 12.

Lemnios said he is available to serve in an interim position “to assist with the transition, with the details to be worked out,” he said.

Two more candidates will be interviewed by the board on Monday, April 24, at which time the community members of the committee will be appointed. The first meeting of the group, which also includes representatives from town boards, will take place April 27. Select board representative to the committee Irwin Nesoff was appointed to serve as interim chair until the committee is up and running.

In the meantime, the consultant, Community Paradigm Associates, “will weed through the applications and present who they believe to be the best semifinalists to the committee for their review,” Select Board Chair Donna Pursel said.

The seven-member committee, consisting of two select board members (Greg Grey and Nesoff), one each from the advisory board (Patricia Cormier) and school committee (David Twombly), and the two community members, will meet throughout the month of May and ultimately recommend a list of finalists to the select board, which will make the final decision. The board agreed to eliminate the earlier planned department manager representative to the committee.

“The hope is that the committee will present the final candidates to the select board around the second week of June,” Pursel said. “We’re in a great spot right know. We know that Phil is retiring at the end of June, and we feel we have enough time.”

Citizens Stephen Applebaum, David P. Irwin, Susan Mann, Ann Marie Papasodero, Polly Rowe, Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, William Smyth, Francine Townsend, and Stephen White interviewed for the two community member seats Wednesday night.

Slemmer called this transition “an amazing milestone for the town,” during her interview.

Qualities that the applicants feel are vital in the new town manager include the ability to identify and complete goals (Applebaum), to “balance the books, and to say ‘no,’” when necessary (Irwin); good communications skills and the understanding of “what Hull is as a community, the issues facing the town, and the ability to pull the town together and move forward” (Mann); “a good management style and listening skills” (Papasodero); people skills and trustworthiness (Rowe); an “innate knowledge of our small tourist town” (Smyth); the ability to maintain “the good feeling [that exists now] when you walk into town hall and to create an even better spirit of cooperation if possible” (Townsend); and flexibility and humility (White).

All the candidates said they would be available through May if they were appointed, except Smyth, who will be out of town for a large part of the month. While he let the board know that information ahead of time, he said he wanted to share his thoughts about the town manager search nonetheless.

While the committee’s meetings will be posted, most of the work will be completed in executive session “until the finalist stage,” Lemnios said, although the consultant will be able to share general information about the number of candidates, for instance.

Although the names of the semifinalists will not be made public, the finalists’ names will be publicized, after which the select board will proceed with the final selection process.

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