ROCKPORT — This much is clear — Orlando Pacheco, Linda Sanders or Robert Canevazzi will succeed Michael Racicot as Rockport's next town administrator.
But which of the finalists will be considered by the Board of Selectmen as the best fit for Rockport remains a mystery, at least until tomorrow night when selectmen are expected to choose a "winner."
Once a replacement is selected, the board will review and finalize its contract for the position, which was advertised with a salary starting between $90,000 and $105,000.
Canevazzi, who served most recently as town administrator in the Cape Cod town of Dennis; Pacheco, town administrator in Lancaster; and Sanders, who is the town administrator in Ashby, each interviewed for the position after being selected by the Town Administrator Search Committee as finalists for the post.
Several selectmen indicated they were pleased by the quality of the finalists and that they had not yet decided who would receive their vote.
"I was extremely impressed with all three finalists. I think the Search Committee did an excellent job recommending three highly qualified but different candidates, and I thank them for their hard work," Selectman Sarah Wilkinson said Friday.
Selectmen's Chairman Sandy Jacques said he had not made up his mind regarding a choice, and was still doing his due diligence in an attempt to "figure these individuals out" and evaluate how their particular strengths could be useful to the town.
"They're all impressive," he said. "I always said we need someone with extremely high people skills. We're all doing this to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Rockport; I'm looking for the person who can do the job in a trustworthy way to honor that responsibility."
Canevazzi is pursuing his master's degree in public administration from Suffolk University in Boston. He left his position in Dennis in March 2008 to pursue municipal government work on the West Coast but opted to return to Massachusetts after, due in large part because of the recession, he couldn't find municipal government work.
The 54-year-old Plymouth resident said his role in Dennis was as a "very strong town administrator," adding the position there "bordered on being a town manager."
Canevazzi is a defendant in a federal suit filed by amateur golfer Elaine Joyce in February 2008 after a public golf course in Dennis refused to let her play with her father in a May 2007 tournament because of her gender.
Jacques said he doesn't know enough about the case to know whether or not it would be a risk to hire Canevazzi, but that he would look to get answers to those questions ahead of tomorrow's meeting.
"He's a manager and may have made some bad decisions, or taken bad strategy positions, but that falls back on his managers — the Selectmen," Jacques added.
Sanders, meanwhile, told selectmen she moved to the public sector after decades as a manager at Digital Equipment Corp. when she received a request by the outgoing Ashby town administrator to take over the position on a temporary basis upon his departure two days later. Her strong people skills impressed Jacques and Selectman Andrew Heinze.
Selectmen were also impressed by Pacheco, a 31-year-old Danvers resident who told the board he would strive to improve the community's information technology systems, aggressively pursue grants and aim to keep politics out of the chief executive's daily decision-making processes if hired for the job.
Jacques was impressed by Pacheco's "strong" interview, but expressed concern over whether Pacheco would opt to stay in the Rockport position for long.
Another concern stems from published reports in the Lancaster area of a candidate for selectman who ran a campaign this February highly critical of Pacheco's style; the candidate thought Pacheco had too much authority in Lancaster and made decisions unilaterally — a situation nearly mirroring what happened in Rockport the last few elections, when the selectmen's candidates critical of Racicot were elected to the board.
"The difference is the guy in Lancaster lost, the guy in Rockport won," Jacques said, dismissing the concern.
The board hopes to sign a contract on Nov. 17 and have the new administrator in place by later this month or early December, depending on when the person can start, though all have indicated they could start almost immediately.
The selectmen meet tomorrow night at 7 in Conference Room A, Town Hall.
Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.
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