Yarmouth Selectman Speculates on How to Fill Administrator Seat

CCB MEDIA PHOTO: Yarmouth Selectman Chair Erik Tolley

YARMOUTH – Voters denied an effort to spend $20,000 on another town administrator search at Saturday’s Town Meeting, leaving selectmen in limbo as to how they should proceed in finding the town’s next top executive.

The board had previously failed to achieve a 4/5ths majority decision required to hire the current assistant town administrator Peter Johnson-Staub.

Previous board votes for Staub were as close as 3-2, with Selectmen Michael Stone and James Quirk opposed.

Since another full-budget search is currently out of the question, Selectmen Chair Erik Tolley said Staub may still have a shot at the job.

“Technically, Peter is still a candidate, as he is the only candidate,” Tolley said. “If someone were to make the motion at the next selectmen’s meeting, and it got four votes, it would pass.”

Otherwise, the town could still conduct a very limited search, using leftover funds totaling $6,000 from the last search.

This impasse highlights a problem Tolley said is very unsettling.

“There is not a very deep pool of candidates out there, that’s for sure,” Tolley said.

Meanwhile, the chair said Yarmouth is reeling from the lack of stability the hole in their staff is causing.

He said he was not in favor of conducting another search, but was spurred towards the possibility of funding because of the immediacy of the problem.