Swampscott Hires Interim Town Clerk As Election Nears

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The Swampscott Town Clerk's Office got a significant short-term boost ahead of the upcoming annual town election Wednesday with a potentially more permanent hire expected within the next couple of weeks.

The Swampscott Select Board on Wednesday night approved Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald's recommendation of former Newburyport City Clerk Mike Sullivan as the person who will oversee the April 26 town election as the interim town clerk.

Fitzgerald told the Select Board that an offer has been made to a candidate for a full-time replacement for Susan Duplin, who left the position last month to take a similar post closer to her home in North Reading, and that he hopes to present that candidate to the Board for approval as soon as the next Board meeting.

Sullivan also serves as the Director of the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

"I find it incredibly helpful to have someone of Mr. Sullivan's background as we deal with a pretty important piece of our democracy," Fitzgerald told the Select Board. "Hiring someone with (Sullivan's) experience both as a clerk and also with campaign finance professional is a very helpful piece for us."

Fitzgerald said the hope is that Sullivan will also be able to work with the new full-time clerk to ensure a smooth transition once that person is hired.

Sullivan said he expects a busy election night ahead on April 26 with two open Select Board seats and 234 town meeting candidates on the ballot — with more than 50 others expected to receive write-in votes.

"We expect that probably on election night there will be a lot of counting," Sullivan said. "We can probably give preliminary results that night. But then we'll have to deal with the write-in aspect."

(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.)