Marblehead Brings Back John McGinn As Interim Town Administrator

MARBLEHEAD, MA — John McGinn said he is happy to be back in Marblehead even if he hopes it is for as short a time as the town deems necessary.

A unanimous vote of the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday night appointed the former town administrator to resume the role on an interim basis following the resignation of Jason Silva last week. McGinn, who lives in Peabody, worked for the town as its finance director and town administrator for 14 years prior to his retirement in 2018.

Silva served for 3 1/2 years before delivering his resignation for undisclosed reasons.

"I never really thought that I would be sitting at a meeting like this evening," McGinn said of the virtual session. "I am very sorry to see Jason leave. But I understand the role of an interim person is basically to keep things operating on a smooth basis for the town.

"Obviously, this is an important time of year getting ready for town meeting, as well as the whole budget process. These are things that I've been through. Many, many town meetings from 2005 to 2018 in both the roles I played in that. I think I've got the experience to help you through this transitional period."

The next step in finding a full-time replacement for Silva is to solicit at least three consulting firms to research and produce candidates that will then go through the town interview process.

"Frankly, I hope the transitional period is as short as possible because I want to see the town move ahead as quickly as possible getting a full-time, permanent administrator," McGinn said. "I have no desire to make this longer than it has to be."

While the vote for McGinn was unanimous, Board member Alexa Singer did express some reservations about the process that produced only one interim candidate for consideration.

On Monday, Select Board Chair Jackie Belf-Becker said she quickly reached out to McGinn to gauge his interest after receiving Silva's resignation, knowing that finding an interim town administrator can be difficult.

"If we can get John to fill the possible we would be extremely lucky," Belf-Becker said during Monday's meeting. "This is the way this issue has always been handled in the past. This is a short-term fix."

Board member Erin Noonan also expressed some frustration on Monday with the unilateral action taken in identifying one person for the role and bringing only that name to the vote with minimal debate, but she also ultimately backed McGinn for the interim post.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)