CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Falmouth Town Manager Julian Suso talks about the issues involved with installing a dispatch center at the Falmouth Fire Department headquarters.
FALMOUTH – The Falmouth select board has requested that Town Manager Julian Suso resign from his position.
The request follows an overall negative performance review of Suso that said he had poor communication with the board as well as highlighted concerns over town staff vacancies.
“While there have been several such vacancies over the past 12 months, only two of them involve resignations. The fact is that the vast majority of staff vacancies involved employees leaving due to retirement,” said Suso.
The performance review also said that the town manager had a poor rapport with Falmouth residents, though Suso said that voters have routinely supported his initiatives during his time in the position.
“The Falmouth voters have consistently trusted and overwhelmingly supported multiple debt exclusions during my tenure as town manager. The $9.7 million new senior center, the $41 million new wastewater filtration facility and the $37 million wastewater expansion into the Little Pond service area are just three such examples.”
Suso also said that several select board members who performed the review should have recused themselves from the process considering previous experiences.
Select board chair Douglas Brown warned of a termination of Suso’s contract in September which eventually led to a Complaint Against a Public Officer hearing held later in the year.
In August, board member Megan English Braga had applied for the town counsel position that Suso did not appoint her for.
English Braga said that she has routinely “gone to bat” for Suso, and disagreed that her review of his performance was the result of previous animosity towards him. She said that her negative comments of his communication and rapport with residents were based on comments made by the public and town staff.
The select board issued the request that Suso resign after meeting in executive session, to which Suso said he declined.
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