CPC Hires New Administrator, But Rift Over Its Independence And Authority Remains Unsettled

The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) has hired a new administrator, potentially de-escalating a conflict between the semi-independent grant administration agency and the town. But disputes remain over the administrator’s pay, hours, and title.

“It’s not what we wanted,” CPC chair Linda Williams said. “We’re not giving that up.”

A long-simmering conflict between the CPC and the town reached a boiling point last month when the CPC voted to obtain legal counsel and reject the town’s recommendation to hire an administrator whom CPC leadership said they had not properly interviewed. But CPC leadership and town administration have always agreed the candidate, Morgan Sayle, was highly qualified, and at a meeting earlier this month, the CPC officially voted to hire her.

The CPC awards grants of taxpayer funds raised through a 3 percent property tax surcharge to local non-profits for the purposes of securing open space, historic preservation, and housing. The CPC operates under the broad umbrella of the town, but maintains a certain degree of independence afforded by its enabling statute. The exact degree of that independence is at the center of the CPC’s conflict with the town.

The decision to hire Sayle came after Williams and CPC vice chair Joe Topham conducted a second interview with her. They had previously said their first interview was not sufficient to decide whether to hire Sayle, and that the town had not given them the opportunity for a second interview.

They claimed they had asked for a second interview, and that the interview was necessary to decide between Sayle and another candidate they believed was also highly qualified. The town countered that the request for a second interview had not been made formally, was not part of the town’s usual hiring process, and was unnecessary given that Williams and Topham had both provisionally ranked Sayle as their preferred candidate after the first round of interviews. That element of the dispute may have been settled.

But during the CPC’s most recent meeting, Williams and Topham were clear that the CPC and the town had not yet reached an accord on Sayle’s pay, hours, or job title.

“It’s nauseating to me,” Topham said.

The CPC wants to pay Sayle $45 per hour for a 30-hour workweek. The town recommended $39.52 for 25 hours a week, with the possibility of overtime, saying that the CPC’s recommendations would lead the town to pay Sayle significantly more than other comparable town employees. Should Sayle routinely work overtime, Williams said, the town would consider increasing her base hours. The CPC ultimately voted to approve the town’s recommendations, but not without protest.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re at this point where the things we’d like to do we’re having to argue about as opposed to being supported on,” CPC member Tim Soverino said.

The CPC wanted to hire Sayle as an administrator, but the town advertised the position as an administrative assistant, which justified a lower pay rate.

“The title initially proposed—Community Preservation Administrator—was reviewed against the actual duties, responsibilities, decision-making authority, and qualifications identified for a Town position with that title,” human resources director Amanda Perry told the Current. “Based on that review, Human Resources determined that Community Preservation Administrative Assistant more accurately reflected the nature and level of the work and its placement within the Town's classification and compensation structure. The title was therefore not changed for the purpose of reducing compensation; rather, both the title and compensation range resulted from the classification of the duties assigned to the position and to maintain consistency.”

The CPC disagrees with the town’s characterization of Sayle’s duties.

“She’s an administrator. She’s not an assistant administrator to anybody,” Williams said. “She’s in total control of that office. That’s an administrator. She’s handling millions and millions dollars worth of funding. She’s the face of the office.”

Sayle is the niece of town manager Libby Gibson, who oversees the town employees responsible for managing the CPC’s staffer and handling the hiring process. Gibson was officially recused from the hiring process and submitted a conflict-of-interest disclosure form in which she indicated that “I have not, and will not, influence decision-making on hiring with this position.” Select Board chair Dawn Hill, who sits on the CPC, was also recused.

The CPC has been without a designated staffer for some time, forcing its members, most notably Williams, to take on significant administrative duties beyond what they are usually expected to do in their roles as elected and appointed representatives. The CPC handles millions in funds, and CPC leadership and town administration agreed on the importance of hiring a new staff person for the CPC as soon as possible.

The disagreement between town administration and CPC leadership is fundamentally about how independent the CPC is supposed to be.

A legal memo from former town counsel John Giorgio, which the town provided to the Current, suggests that the town has administrative and managerial authority over the CPC, so long as it does not interfere with the committee’s substantive work and decision-making. The town views the CPC’s staffer as a municipal employee and believes the same hiring procedures that the town uses for other positions should be followed to fill the opening at the CPC.

But Topham and Williams say that they spoke with Stuart Saginor, the Executive Director of the Community Preservation Coalition, a non-profit that stewards the act that established Community Preservation Committees in Massachusetts, and he disagrees with Giorgio. Topham and Williams believe the CPC must be afforded much greater authority and independence.