HARWICH — When selectmen were unable to reach a decision on the appointment of a new town administrator several weeks ago, they agreed to retain Interim Town Administrator Joseph Powers for one year. On Monday, however, the board voted to extend Powers' appointment for 90 days. The appointment will expire on Nov. 18. It would conclude a full year of service for Powers as interim town administrator. Question...

ORLEANS — By a 3-2 margin last week, the select board approved a three-year contract for Town Administrator John Kelly. “I’ve served the town for nearly 24 years,” Kelly told the board, “and I remain committed to the town of Orleans… I expect this will be my final contract in Orleans and I want to see a smooth transition go forward.” That transition is something that board members Mark Mathison and Cecil ...

HARWICH — Selectmen could not come to a conclusion Monday night on the hiring of a permanent town administrator. After two motions failed, the board agreed to retain Interim Town Administrator Joseph Powers for one year. “No comment,” Powers responded Tuesday morning to an email asking if he had made a decision on continuing in the interim town administrator job. Discussions on the choosing of a new town ad...

HARWICH — The town administrator search committee submitted four names to selectmen Monday night as finalists for the town administrator position. Among those candidates is acting town administrator Joseph Powers, who has served as the interim town administrator since November. The other candidates are Kenneth Gray, who served as mayor of Amesbury for six years and has 20 years of experience in the private sec...

Hessler Claims Retaliation Over Criticism, Senior Center Support CHATHAM – The former chairman of the zoning board of appeals is accusing the board of selectmen of not reappointing him in retaliation for his leadership of the effort to build a new senior center on Stepping Stones Road and his criticism of the selectmen's leadership. Robert Hessler, who served on the zoning board for a decade, was not reappo...

CHATHAM — At least on a trial basis, there are likely to be food trucks in a few locations in Chatham this summer. Working on a model regulation from Needham, selectmen are drafting a policy to allow mobile food vendors to operate with minimal impact on traditional restaurants, likely as part of a one-year pilot program. Chatham lacks a mechanism for specifically regulating mobile food vendors, and selectmen a...

HARWICH — Selectmen will soon be putting together a request for proposal for town administrator search companies to assist the committee they have put together to screen candidates to fill the town's chief executive position. On Monday night the board heard presentations from Groux-White Consulting, LLC and Community Paradigm Associates. The board was looking for some foresight into the services companies prov...

HARWICH — Selectmen Monday agreed to create a town administrator search committee by early January, but the board will continue to weigh whether to retain a search consultant to assist in the process. Town Administrator Christopher Clark went on an extended leave of absence after working out an agreement with selectmen which includes Clark not seeking a new contract with the town. His leave of absence expires ...

HARWICH — There has certainly been acrimony between some members of the board of selectmen and Town Administrator Christopher Clark over his nearly six-year tenure, and it has intensified over the past several months. Clark announced last week he will not seek reappointment as town administrator when his term expires at the end of June. He reached an agreement with selectmen and will be leaving his position wi...

HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night issued a contract to Community Development Corporation to provide housing coordinator services to the affordable housing trust for a second year. But there was debate over who should issue the contract, the town's affordable housing trust or selectmen. Selectman Donald Howell, who also serves on the trust, declared it should be the selectmen’s decision, not the trust’s, to i...

HARWICH — Sandy Robinson remembers well the day she was offered the job working in the administration/selectmen’s office in town hall 19 years ago. “Assistant town administrator Juell Buckwold called to offer me the job and I said my first grandchild is about to be born any minute,” Robinson responded. “Now she’s in her second year in college. It’s like a lifetime in the blink of an eye.” But, the executive...

CHATHAM — In response to what they say are problems with the whole group, not any individual member, selectmen Monday voted to abolish the embattled charter review committee. The 4-1 vote included the revocation of all committee members’ appointments. The board of selectmen stopped short of considering a measure to appoint itself as the new charter review committee. “The issues that are at hand with this ...

ORLEANS — The selectmen and town administrator are working on including a wide-ranging discussion about rules for dogs and their owners on the agenda for their July 17 meeting. “We had agreed to get into this after [last year's] dangerous dog hearings,” Selectman Mefford Runyon said at the board's July 3 meeting. “We were talking about soup to nuts, regulations, enforcement.” Earlier, he observed, “Everybody...

CHATHAM — Saying it cannot ignore “dysfunction” on the charter review committee or the complaint lodged against one of its members, selectmen will be putting that group under the magnifying glass. Board members Monday resolved to take up discussion on both the complaint lodged against charter committee member Seth Taylor and on the ability of the committee as a whole to carry out its charge. The concerns ...

HARWICH — Some offices in town hall will be reconfigured in the next week, Town Administrator Christopher Clark has informed the board of selectmen. The change will better utilize the largest room in the selectmen/administration offices, he said. “It’s about how we get greater use of space in the building,” Clark told The Chronicle this week. Under the reconfiguration plan, Clark said Assistant Town Adminis...