Town Administrator Finalists Named

HARWICH – The current or former top town executives of Marion, Middleboro and Winchendon are the finalists to become Harwich’s next town administrator. 

Their names were made public at the Dec. 22 select board meeting, and it will now be up to the board to interview the three candidates and make its choice, likely by the end of January.

 The finalists are Marion Town Administrator Geoffrey Gorman, former Winchendon Town Manager James Kreidler and Middleborough Town Manager James McGrail.

 “Each has experience as a manager and as a leader. Each is, and has been, a successful performer in their current community, and each is well regarded in the field,” said town administrator screening committee Chair Jack Mawn. “We believe the three finalists will provide the board with an outstanding group from which to choose.”

 McGrail has been Middleborough’s chief executive since 2022, overseeing an operating budget of $105 million this year. Before that, he was the town administrator in Marion for more than three years. He came to that post from Sandwich, where he was the town’s director of facilities for just over a year. 

 Kreidler is the founder of Muni-Sun, LLC, a company that works with municipalities to site solar installations and aggregate the energy they provide. He held town manager positions in Winchendon, Townsend and Ayer, Mass., and interviewed unsuccessfully for the Yarmouth town administrator position in 2021. 

 Gorman has been the Marion town administrator since 2023, overseeing a $28 million budget and fiscal policies that have yielded that town a AAA bond rating. He created and operates a nonprofit educational foundation and previously worked in the scientific and financial sectors following a 27-year career in the U.S. Navy. Gorman lives in Mashpee, where he served on the finance committee and school committee.

 The search for Harwich’s next town administrator began in July when the select board hired Groux-White Consulting to assist in the process. The consultants advertised the position widely, reaching out to more than 300 prospective candidates and posting the job to industry sites and job boards. 

 “The committee was very pleased with the response, both in the number of, and in the credentials of, the pool of applicants,” Mawn told the select board. Serious candidates received a questionnaire and underwent preliminary screening and some limited reference checks. 

 Of the 34 applications received, 13 were selected for further consideration. The screening committee selected eight of those candidates for interviews, though one withdrew from consideration to take another job. Gorman, Kreidler and McGrail were the top performers in the interviews.

 “We feel that any one of the three will serve Harwich well,” Mawn said. “It is worth mentioning that the committee members chose the finalists unanimously.”

 Select board member Jeffrey Handler said the consulting firm emailed him to praise the screening committee for “their decency, hard work and commitment to the town of Harwich.” The select board thanked the committee for its efforts.

 “We hope to solidify all of your efforts with a new town administrator in the coming weeks, sometime in January,” board member Pete Piekarski said.