By Carol Britton Meyer

During a record-brief, 45-minute meeting Wednesday night, the select board set a date for the annual public evaluation of Town Manager Jennifer Constable, appointed a new police sergeant, and granted a common victualer license to the new owners of Shipwreck’d at Pemberton Point.

The board appointed patrolman James “Garret” Toner to the position of sergeant upon the recommendation of Police Chief John Dunn. Toner’s appointment fills the vacancy created by the recent retirement of Sgt. Scott Saunders, who had been on administrative leave since 2023 after being arrested in Pembroke for assaulting a 72-year-old neighbor.

Members of Toner’s family filled the last row of the meeting room in a show of support.

The top three ranked patrol officers were considered for this position, as required through civil service. Toner, who has been a member of the Hull Police Department for more than four years, ranked number one.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and sociology. While working for the Hull Police Department, he returned to college and earned his master’s degree in criminal justice.

Toner is currently a state certified tactical instructor for the department as well as an officer-in-charge, and has been awarded the department lifesaving medal.

Town manager public review set for October 16

In other business at the meeting, the board confirmed the annual town manager evaluation process, setting a deadline of September 16 for individual members to submit their evaluation forms, and October 16 for the public meeting at which Constable’s performance review will be presented.

The evaluation form board members will fill out includes individual characteristics; professional skills and status; relations with elected members of the governing body; policy execution; reporting to the governing body matters of importance to the local government using the town charter as a guide; citizen relations; staffing; supervision of department heads; fiscal management; community involvement in addressing difficult issues facing the town; and prior year accomplishments.

Constable will fill out a self-evaluation form as well.

Other steps include Chair Irwin Nesoff and fellow board members Jason McCann and Greg Grey conducting voluntary and confidential interviews with department heads Constable normally interacts with and supervises. Board members Brian McCarthy and Jerry Taverna, who were not present at this week’s meeting, declined to participate in this part of the process.

Board members will then submit their evaluation forms to Assistant Town Manager Stacy Callahan, who will forward them to outside labor counsel to summarize all the board’s assessments into a final evaluation document – representing the consensus of the board – that will be presented during the public meeting. The town’s labor counsel is on retainer, so preparing the final document will be at no additional cost to the town.

The consensus document will be distributed to the town manager and select board in advance of the open session.

Individual assessments will not be made public, but will be included in the town manager’s personnel file, Board members will not be able to review them until after the public performance review.

Public comment will not be allowed during the discussion “as this is an opportunity for the board to evaluate the town manager’s professional competence,” according to the Town Manager Performance Evaluation Process policy shared with board members by Callahan on August 20.

However, as stated in the policy, during the open meeting discussion, board members may generally state their comments regarding the town manager’s performance, but should not make reference to their individual performance assessment or rely on that document during the discussion.

During the meeting, the board will take a formal vote on whether to adopt the consensus document, which is a public record subject to disclosure upon request. “It is not unheard of for towns to put the consensus document on their town websites,” according to the policy.

As part of the process, the board is expected to work with the town manager to develop goals and objectives that would presumably form the basis for the next year’s performance review.

“This is the first time for the select board to be doing this, so once done, we’ll have a bird’s-eye view of the process and see if any changes need to be made,” Nesoff said.

He noted that the entire process has been solidified “in cooperation with the town manager.”

Shipwreck’d to serve breakfast to early risers

On Wednesday night, the board also approved the issuance of a new common victualer license for Shipwreck’d, contingent upon the surrender of the current license under My Starfish, Inc. and subject to obtaining the necessary insurances, including flood insurance.

Owner Lillian Parker, who also owns the SandBar, plans to open for business at 5:30 a.m. seven days a week to serve breakfast to commuter boat riders and other early risers. Closing hours are 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday, and 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Shipwreck’d, which had closed recently for “unexpected circumstances,” according to a social media post, will be open year-round, with a focus on serving breakfast and lunch.

Indoor seating will be available, and once renovations are complete – some are already underway – “we’d like to expand that map,” Parker said.

She also plans to go before the board seeking an entertainment license at a future meeting to allow recorded music and televisions at the restaurant.

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