Adam Chapdelaine, the unanimous choice by Natick Select Board members to fill the town administrator position, announced on Thursday that he will remain as Arlington’s town manager.
The Your Arlington website reported the news, including a statement issued by Chapdelaine in which he wrote “since the Natick Select Board voted on June 14th to enter negotiations with me to become the next Natick Town Administrator, I have determined that the position may not have been the fit that it appeared to be following my several interviews with the town…” He thanked Natick for the opportunity, which Your Arlington reported was “the third time he has bypassed a position elsewhere since he got the top job in 2012.”
Chapdelaine also addressed the news in an interview with Arlington’s local access channel. Always an awkward sort of thing given the public nature of the interview process.
The Select Board had posted an executive session meeting for Thursday to discuss negotiations with its town administrator choice.
Now the Natick Select Board has added appointing an acting town administrator to its June 30 meeting agenda, along with announcing selection process next steps for a town administrator appointment.
According to Natick’s town website: “The Town Administrator is appointed by the Select Board to oversee the daily operations of the town, advise and administer the policies and procedures of the Select Board and enforce town bylaws and actions passed by Town Meeting.”
Jamie Errickson, Natick’s deputy town administrator and briefly its interim town administrator, was described during the Select Board discussions more than once as “a rising star.” He appeared to clearly be the #2 choice among the 4 finalists, but we’ll now see what happens.
The Board sought to fill a position vacated by Melissa Malone at the end of 2020 following a sometimes tumultuous 2-plus year stint, and filled in the interim by Robert Rooney.
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