Stoughton Selectmen Vote to Not Renew Town Manager's Contract

STOUGHTON, MA — Town Manager Michael Hartman could be out of a job when his contract is up this summer.

Thursday night, the selectmen voted 3-1 to not renew the town manager’s contract. Robert O’Reagan was the lone vote against the motion and Joseph Mokrisky chose to recuse himself because his son has applied to join the Stoughton Police Department.

Chairman David Sousa said Hartman can reapply for the job when the search process begins.

“We’re not discouraging him from applying, we just want to see if there are any other candidates out there for the town,” Sousa said.

In Hartman’s contract, the selectmen are required to give him at least six months notice if the board plans on not renewing his contract.

O’Regan’s vote against the motion was due to the lack of a performance review. He said the town has not conducted a review for Hartman during the past two years, with no action taken when he’s asked about it.

“In fairness to this employee, when we have obligations to provide performance reviews, what are the criteria you are using to take action today?” O’Reagan said.

Selectman Robert Cohn claimed that O’Reagan supplied a performance review that he was told to shorten. An edited version never came back to him, Cohn said.

“I said five pages is enough. We both agreed on what we wanted to do. I said go back and shorten it up and that was the end of it. So sit here and blame everyone, you’re the one that never gave me back the piece of paper,” Cohn said.

O’Reagan called the recollection inaccurate, responding that he supplied a spreadsheet that Cohn said he was almost done reviewing every time he was asked about it.

Selectman Peter Brown, while agreeing that a review needed to take place, believed that the contract allowed for the vote to be taken.

Sousa added that he brought up the vote because of an issue with a department head, the departure of Police Chief Paul Shastany and an issue with the internal police chief search that resulted in an external candidate obtaining an application.

The board will meet with Hartman to discuss the job during an executive session on Dec. 28.

Originally published Dec. 17, 2016

Image: file photo