SOUTHAMPTON — The Select Board is looking for three residents to join a new 12-member committee dedicated to improving the town’s financial health.
Though the official name of the group has not been solidified, the cost efficiency ad hoc committee is charged with analyzing the town’s infrastructure and service delivery with a goal to achieve savings, and develop a cost-efficient plan that will enhance services to meet current and future needs of residents, said Chris Fowles, chairperson of the Select Board. Interested residents should have experience in financial management and/or human resources.
“We want some new energy, new perspectives. There’s lots of people in town that have got ideas and experience and we welcome those and we want to make a place where they can contribute to that,” Fowles said. “We’re trying to figure out a way to improve our financial health and not have to constantly scramble around to do things that should be pretty normal and attract people to come and serve in our key positions in town.”
Over the last year, Fowles said the Select Board has also created two other committees — the seven-member Ad Hoc Technology Committee and the four-member Ad Hoc Grant Search Committee — that have been very successful, and it hopes this new committee will share in that same success.
The technology committee has been assessing the town’s information technology system and working to upgrade its cybersecurity.
Of the six grant applications that the grant search committee has submitted, all six have received funding totaling close to $500,000, said Fowles, who serves as chairperson of that ad hoc committee.
The town faced some challenges with losing its former town accountant Vicki Leigh Moro, who left in October 2020 after eight years to pursue a job as city auditor in Westfield. In a previous interview with the Gazette, Moro said the new job provided an opportunity for professional growth.
Northampton-based temporary employment firm, Johnson & Hill Staffing Services, provided a temporary town accountant for the majority of the 11 months that Southampton was without a permanent town accountant, according to Gibson. The town hired Bradley Okscin as its permanent town accountant on Sept. 27.
This past fiscal year, Fowles said collectively, the Select Board, Finance Committee and Town Administrator Ed Gibson worked hard to meet all departmental budgetary needs, but were unable to secure all the funding the various town boards requested. With the defeat of a $718,467 override that was intended to fund school and municipal expenditures, cuts to hours, positions and funding were made throughout the town departments and school district.
When the Select Board set their priorities for the current fiscal year, the top focus became securing financial stability, Fowles said.
“Southampton doesn’t have a town planner that can analyze our economic situation and develop strategies for financial stability. We rely on volunteers for everything. We have an incredibly dedicated group of volunteers that help us out on the many committees we have in town,” she said. “As with other initiatives, the town must establish a new volunteer committee of qualified citizens and employees to examine and implement measures designed to maximize the town’s financial and personnel resource; gain efficiency and/or cost savings in service provision; enhance employment competitiveness and achieve and maintain long-term fiscal stability.”
The cost efficiency ad hoc committee will be a 12-member committee comprised of Gibson: two Select Board members: three board/committee members, including one from the Finance Committee, a local school designee and the Planning Board.
It will also have three town employees or board members with one person representing each of the following groups: assessor, accountant, treasurer/collector and library trustees; building commissioner, town clerk, water commission and Council on Aging board; police, fire and highway departments, and Board of Health.
Committee meetings will be held monthly and updates to the Select Board will be provided bi-monthly.
Those interested in applying should send a letter of interest to the Select Board detailing their background and reasons for wanting serve, as well as their availability to serve in this capacity for at least one year. Letters should be sent to: Select Board, 210 College Highway, Southampton, MA 01073 or emailed to: selectmen@townofsouthampton.org.
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com
