ASHFIELD — Foreman Bryan Clark has been tapped to take over as Ashfield’s new highway superintendent after Tom Poissant retires in December.
Selectboard members voted unanimously on Monday to offer the job to Clark, a Goshen resident who has worked for the town for six years. The town and Clark have yet to settle on a salary for the position and will negotiate before Poissant’s Dec. 31 retirement.
Selectboard members have discussed at previous meetings that Poissant has been training Clark, and preparing him to take over the department for close to a year. Chair Tom Carter said the board wishes to support Clark in making the “transition as seamless as possible,” and encouraged him to speak with Poissant about getting a list of the Highway Department’s in-progress projects. He added that the town has also budgeted to hire a part-time clerical assistant for the department.
Clark said Poissant has already told him about some of the projects that will not be finished before he retires, and what steps will need to be taken to complete the work.
“We’ve been going over stuff and working on the computers. He’s been showing me the different things that need to be done,” Clark said. “I want to keep moving forward on and pushing on what needs to happen, and I have a few things of my own I’ve brought up that I would like to do to make things better.”
Prior to joining the Highway Department, Clark worked as a self-employed logger and landscaper, and an electrician for Poissant Electric in Whately.
The town will not be seeking a new foreman to replace Clark, but plans to hire another laborer instead. Clark told the Selectboard that with a clerical assistant helping with paperwork and other administrative tasks, he hopes he will be able to work on site with the crew more frequently, so a foreman will not be needed.
“My feeling was that I was looking forward to being more of an in-the-field boss,” he said. “I’ll be working more with the crew. My feeling is we could just get by with another laborer.”
Selectboard members voted unanimously to hire Clark as the next highway superintendent, effective Dec. 31. Before then, the town and Clark will negotiate a salary. In August, the board discussed a pay range of $75,000 to $80,000 for the position overseeing the Highway Department and the Transfer Station.
The town has also posted a job description for the available full-time highway laborer position on the town website.