GREENFIELD — Much like Mayor Roxann Wedegartner taking what she calls “Mayor 101,” new Chief of Staff Danielle Letourneau had to take the “Mark Smith intensive,” before taking the role over from Smith, the director of general administration.
For three days prior to the end of Smith’s tenure, he met with Letourneau to teach her about the position, which now has a new name.
“The job description is relatively the same,” Letourneau said. “The new mayor wanted to make sure it was clear to the public what my role is. Chief of staff is a much more ubiquitous and clearer term.”
Letourneau will be functioning as a “high-level scheduler and organizer for the mayor” as well as communications and public relations.
“I’ll be involved in some of the department-level conversations that Mark Smith also did,” Letourneau said. “I’m a filter and a triage to make sure things get touched, so things that don’t need the mayor’s personal eyes on it right this second, still get attention.”
One focus Letourneau and Wedegartner have is providing information about the budget process to the public.
“One thing we’d like to see done is putting out the timelines and defining what things mean in a way that people who aren’t immersed in municipal government understand,” Letourneau said. “I’m pretty good at distilling that stuff down, so we have plans on the horizon to do that.”
Letourneau served on the 13-member City Council from 2006 to 2011, under the previous two mayors.
“Because I had served, some of the information I already knew going in,” she said.
Her involvement with Wedegartner began when she announced her candidacy for mayor in early 2019.
“I did not do this with the intention of getting this position,” Letourneau said of helping with Wedegartner’s campaign. “I knew her from town, but we also worked on the sustainability master plan together. She was the chair and I was one of the community members, and I was on the transportation subcommittee of the master plan.”
She’s also worked as vice president of client services at a media distribution company, served as an executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County for five years and worked at the Turners Falls-based Center for Responsive Schools. With her previous experience, Letourneau said she’s going to start documenting operations in City Hall, and is excited about moving forward.
“Once we get our feet under us, we should have some good rollouts soon,” Letourneau said. “I, personally, want to make things easier to understand for the regular person.”
Reach Melina Bourdeau at mbourdeau@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 263.