Yarmouth Selectmen To Conduct Their Own Search for Town Administrator

Yarmouth Selectman Erik Tolley

YARMOUTH – Yarmouth Selectmen are moving forward with their plans to hire a new Town Administrator.

Selectmen decided last night against forming a selection committee and instead decided to go ahead and do the search, interview and selection process themselves.

“If there’s one apple that looks particularly good, you get two bites out of it rather than one,” said selectmen Chair Erik Tolley. “It’s more work for us, but I can see some value in that.”

Selectmen can interview as many applicants as they would like behind closed doors, but according to the open meeting law, after one round of interviews, a second round would have to be in open session.

“Making sure that we have the right criteria, so that we understand what we’re really looking for and we come up with questions that are consistent with those needs,” said selectmen Norman Holcomb.

Peter Johnson-Staub took over the Town Administrator position from William Hinchey on an interim basis on January 23 after Hinchey’s retirement.

His contract is for 90 days.

Selectmen were at an impasse in December, as they debated two candidates for the position, but after John Salamone took his name out of contention, Johnson-Staub was the only candidate left. Selectmen Mike Stone and James Quirk refused to vote for Johnson-Staub.

By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter