Five finalists named for Council clerk’s position

The Winthrop Town Council has named the five finalists for the position of clerk to the council.

Carolann Buchman, Leighanne Strangie, Joanna Darcy, Bettie Dalton, and Georgeanne DaCosta will be interviewed by the councilors at a special meeting, tentatively scheduled for Monday (Dec. 6) night.

Eleven candidates applied for the position that was previously held by Town Clerk Carla Vitale. The clerk to the town council position is a separate role from Vitale’s responsibilities as town clerk. The part-time position has a stipend of $5,200 per year.

Councillors Russell Sanford, Larry Powers, and Jeanne Maggio, who are members of the clerk to the council selection sub-committee, met on Nov. 19 to review the candidates’ resumes and applications. The subcommittee narrowed the list of 11 candidates to five finalists.

“We felt the five candidates (finalists) were all strong candidates and would work well with the council,” said Sanford, chairman of the subcommittee.

The councillors then debated the process by which they will interview the five finalists.

“We felt that we weren’t going to have all five candidates in the room at the same time [during each candidate’s individual interview with the council] – so someone wouldn’t have the advantage of hearing the questions in advance,” said Maggio.

Council President Jeffrey Turco suggested that each candidate be interviewed for a period of 20 minutes during the public meeting.

Maggio also inquired about councilors submitting their questions in advance so there are no duplicate questions of the candidates.

“Do we want the questions from the councilors in advance?” asked Maggio

Council President Jeffrey Turco answered that question directly.

“Let’s do this – we’ll set the meeting time at 6 p.m. We’ll schedule the first interview at 6:15. You can formulate questions that you think are important. We’ll spend the first 15 minutes finalizing the questions.”

The councilor also agreed with Turco’s suggestion that each interview be conducted in a 20-minute time period. It is expected that the council will announce its selection of the new clerk to the council at its Dec. 14 meeting.

Due to the fact that the License Commission has a meeting scheduled on Dec. 6 in the Joseph Harvey Room at Town Hall, the special meeting of the Town Council will likely be held at the Cummings School.