ROCKPORT — Two of three finalists vying for the position of town administrator will have an opportunity to speak before selectmen and answer questions tomorrow night.
Robert Canevazzi, most recently the town administrator in the Cape Cod town of Dennis, will interview a second time with selectmen at 7:15 p.m., while Linda Sanders will answer selectmen's questions about her career, managerial style and future aspirations, following Canevazzi at 8:15 tomorrow in Conference Room A of Town Hall.
Canevazzi, a Plymouth resident, was chosen early this summer by selectmen as the "first alternative" for the interim town administrator position in case their top choice, Edgar Gadbois, rejected the offer. Gadbois has been serving as the town's interim top executive since July.
Tomorrow night will be busy for the 54-year-old Canevazzi, who is also scheduled to interview with selectmen in Hanson as a finalist for the position of town administrator there. It is unclear what time he is expected to interview in Hanson; calls to the Board of Selectmen's office were not returned Friday.
According to published reports, Canevazzi was also interviewed as a finalist for the town administrator position in Wareham on Oct. 20.
After nearly eight years on the job, Canevazzi left his post in Dennis upon the expiration of his contract in August 2008. In an interview with the Cape Cod Times on his final day in Dennis, Canevazzi said he resigned from the job in order to pursue municipal government work on the West Coast.
Canevazzi was listed as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in February 2008 by amateur champion golfer Elaine Joyce after a public golf course in Dennis refused to let her play with her father in a tournament in May 2007 because she was a woman. The story became made national news after appearing in the New York Times.
According to the newspaper, Joyce first complained only to the town, but Canevazzi reportedly refused to budge. Later that summer, Canevazzi wrote a letter to Joyce saying the Dennis Pines Golf Club would begin scheduling men's and women's fields in all tournaments in 2008, but would still not allow women to play in men's tournaments.
An attempt to reach Canevazzi by phone on Friday was unsuccessful. A call to Dennis Assistant Town Administrator, Sandra Fife, who worked alongside Canevazzi for a period of time, was also not returned Friday.
Sanders lives in Winchendon and has handled the day-to-day business of Ashby, a small town of roughly 3,300 people located in the north-central part of the state, as its administrator for 12 years.
The upstate New York native was appointed Ashby's town administrator in 1997 after serving in an interim role for several months.
Sanders said she has been very selective with regard to where she has applied for a new job and Rockport has been one of her favorite destinations for years.
"I love Rockport," she said from her Ashby office on Friday. "Any time I've had out-of-state company, invariably, we spend at least one day in Rockport. So, when I saw they were looking for a town administrator, I said, 'Oh my goodness, this is a no brainer'."
Besides her motivation to pursue new challenges, Sanders said Ashby's small, roughly $4.5-million annual budget, barely allows the town to provide adequate services.
"It's a quaint, little New England town so there is no money, we're delivering services that we don't even have quite enough money for," Sanders said. "So I have been working, because I feel so attached here, more than full-time on a part-time salary and I can't do that anymore."
Ashby's three-member Board of Selectmen defers many responsibilities to Sanders.
"I do everything here," she said. "I've done a lot for this town and brought them a long way and I want to look for new challenges in a nice community, so that's what motivated my search."
When asked whether she could work in a town with a five-member board where her role may not be as extensive, Sanders, who holds a master's degree in English literature, said she'd march with the banner of her selectmen while keeping politics out of her corner of the office.
"I am not a politician, I'm a manager, I like to work," she said. "I don't take sides or advocate for any sides; I advocate for the town as a whole. I stay out of politics, they splash on me sometimes, but not by my doing."
Joseph Casey, a selectman in Ashby, was taken by surprise when told Sanders was among the finalists for the job in Rockport. He described Sanders as a "fixture" in town and part of the community's identity.
"It's a surprise to me, but I certainly wish her luck," Casey said. "It would be a loss for us for sure. She has done extraordinary work holding things together here; she has the energy to do it."
Canevazzi and Sanders will have to wait at least another week before hearing whether they were hired for the position. Selectmen are also considering Lancaster Town Administrator and Danvers resident Orlando Pacheco, who interviewed with the Board on Oct. 27. Selectmen hope to make a decision on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.
