MONTAGUE — Members of the Assistant Town Administrator Hiring Committee recommended current Town Planner Walter Ramsey as their top choice to be Montague’s assistant town administrator during this week’s Selectboard meeting.
Since Town Meeting voters approved the creation of the position in May, the hiring committee has met four times to refine the job description, work on advertising and conduct other related business. The group then narrowed a pool of eight candidates to three who met the minimum criteria. Two finalists — Ramsey and current Sandisfield Town Manager Kevin Flynn — were ultimately selected before Ramsey emerged as the favored candidate.
The Selectboard, although comfortable with the recommendation, opted to take an additional week to review application materials and interview footage before affirming the decision.
Greg Garrison, who also serves on the Finance Committee and as chair of the Capital Improvements Committee, is part of a seven-person panel that also includes Town Administrator Steve Ellis, Department of Public Works Superintendent Tom Bergeron, Clean Water Facility Superintendent Chelsey Little, Executive Assistant Wendy Bogusz, Building Inspector Bill Ketchen and Ja’Duke Center for the Performing Arts owner Kimberly Williams, who also sits on the Montague Economic Development and Industrial Corporation.
“I will say that the committee had a very definitive judgment on the final two candidates,” said Garrison, who represented the Assistant Town Administrator Hiring Committee at this week’s Selectboard meeting. “Overall, the committee felt that Walter Ramsey was the better qualified of the two candidates.”
Despite Flynn having served in central Massachusetts municipal governments for more than 25 years, Ramsey emerged as the committee’s favorite due to his “very strong set of knowledge of the community, obviously, knowledge of the position (and) knowledge of the needs of the town of Montague,” Garrison summarized. In addition, Ramsey scored higher in all 12 categories ranked through responses to interview questions. Questions prompted each candidate to articulate their capabilities related to areas such as community engagement, collaboration with town staff, technological understanding and environmental consciousness.
Being a town planner for 12 years, Ramsey has gained an “aptitude for cross-departmental collaboration” and has “had the opportunity to spearhead a collaboration with virtually all municipal departments” in Montague, Ramsey wrote in his cover letter.
“I’ve built up a lot of administrative skills, project management specifically, but also municipal budgeting and personnel management,” Ramsey said in his interview.
Through his work, Ramsey was awarded the 2013 Massachusetts American Planning Association Outstanding Planning Project Award for the Downtown Turners Falls Livability Plan he spearheaded. Aside from various degrees and certificates earned at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, including a master’s degree in regional planning, Ramsey has completed an array of planning-related trainings over the past decade. He is currently a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and anticipates completion of the Massachusetts Municipal Association/Suffolk University graduate-level certificate program in public administration in May 2023.
“The showcase of work that he brought with his portfolio was very similar to what was brought by the other interviewee, but Walter did it in a quarter of the time that he did in his portfolio,” Garrison said at a Capital Improvements Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Specifically, the duties of an assistant town administrator that Ellis previously outlined would include community and economic development, capital and infrastructure planning, facilities planning and management, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance coordination, construction procurement, grant and contract management, business marketing and outreach, and committee support. Ellis also suggested the assistant could double as a clerical assistant in a limited capacity.
Despite his accomplishments as town planner, Ramsey said a transition to an administrative role is the appropriate next step for his career.
“I’ve been able to meet that town need through the Planning Department, but the town has grown to a point where we’re building our capacity,” Ramsey told the hiring committee. “I feel like I’ve grown along with the town to be able to fill this capacity in the ATA role and leave space for the actual town planner role to do land use-related issues, which is really what the planner is supposed to be doing.”
Garrison highlighted Ramsey’s potential adaptability as a key advantage of selecting Ramsey for the position, arguing that he would have a “very quick transition point,” as opposed to an “unknown transition point” that a candidate less familiar with Montague might have.
“I’ve shown that I can grow to meet the needs of the community time and time again through many work examples that I’ve done that I’m happy to talk about,” Ramsey said, describing himself as a “very place-based person … with a lot more to give” Montague.
Ramsey expects that he would leave his town planner position, should he be hired as the town’s assistant town administrator. While no hiring or position start date has been affirmed by the Selectboard, Ellis said at the Capital Improvements Committee meeting that the hiring committee has hopes for “having someone on board by Oct. 3.”
At May’s Annual Town Meeting, the position was budgeted at $86,924 for fiscal year 2023 as part of an $118,781 operating budget increase that also accounts for the addition of a part-time administrative assistant.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.