DLS Recommends Giving More Power To Town Manager, Eliminating Personnel Board

The Division of Local Services (DLS), an arm of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, recently issued a report detailing how the town has performed since adopting the Groton Charter and made recommendations for changes to the structure of town government, changes some residents may find controversial.

The DLS report advises the town to increase the town manager's authority to include approving payroll and vendor warrants, while further suggesting Selectmen delegate additional appointing authority to the town manager including appointment of all non-school staff presently reporting to independently elected boards.

In addition, the report recommends that the "watchdog function of the Finance Committee" should focus on the review of budget adherence to financial policies; refinement of the payroll warrant process and, lastly, to abolish the Personnel Board. The report stated they routinely "recommend that a town reconsider the need for a personnel board when responsibilities are assigned to a specific person. In Groton, those responsibilities reside with both the town manager and the human resource director."

Two additional suggestions from the current DLS report include a recommendation that the Finance Committee focus, during deliberations, should be on the extent to which the town manager's budget conforms to the town's financial policies. The report "also questioned whether the personnel board's scope of responsibilities is broad enough to justify its continuation."

The report states that in the five years since Selectmen appointed the "first town manager, the open town meeting, Selectmen and the town manager government structure appears to work well. Success can be attributed, in part, to the ability of selectmen and town manager to establish an effective working relationship. The town manager has also earned the respect of employees through his management style and interacts well with staff whether or not they report to him."

The DLS report review summary states, "Among the many municipalities where the DLS Technical Assistance Section has provided its services, The Town of Groton stands out...We do not often see communities where voters, town meeting, local leaders, the town manager and department heads are uniformly receptive to new approaches for improving municipal government as in Groton."

DLS was instrumental in helping the town move from the traditional Town Meeting form of government to a Charter-based structure with a town manager almost ten years ago. Back in 2004, DLS gave the town a list of 22 recommendations focused on getting the town onto a more solid financial footing. The Selectmen who recognized the growing need for coordination and centralized management of the town requested the initial review.

In the March 2014 assessment from DLS, their report detailed how well the town performed since 2004, citing that their high priority recommendations have been achieved, including the adoption of the Town Charter, the creation of a Town Manager position, the implementation of Employee Performance Reviews; hiring a Personnel Administrator, hiring a full-time Technology position, along with other medium priority recommendations including using Revenue Projections to start the budget process; formalizing a budget calendar; review and adopt financial policies; planning for a self-sufficient Country Club and the creation of a formula for Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). The report noted of the original recommendations, that "only in the area of securing formal PILOT agreements has progress been slow."

Additional recommendations from the 2004 report were also implemented in the Tax Collector/Treasurer and Assessors offices along with suggestions on how to best handle retention and disposal of records.

Selectman Chairman Peter Cunningham, who was instrumental in pushing for the most important recommendations, said he was "very proud to see the great progress made by the town." He spearheaded the Blue Ribbon Town Governance Committee that brought forward the proposal for a town charter that was adopted by town meeting voters.