Swampscott To Take Critical Look At High Town Hall Turnover

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Recognizing that there has been "an unusual level of turnover at town hall" in recent months, Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told the Select Board he is committed to identifying some of the reasons for that turnover and presenting suggestions to try to correct them.

Select Chair Polly Titcomb requested the report on staffing levels after the latest resignations added to mounting key vacancies among department heads and municipal staff.

"I want to make sure we can keep running town hall," she said.

Fitzgerald acknowledged the issues and said the burden is on him to fill the positions and find ways to best make Swampscott a place where people not only want to come to work but a place they want to stay.

"It isn't a mystery to anybody that we're seeing a significant amount of turnover," Fitzgerald said. "It has been a very difficult challenge for most municipalities during what's been called 'The Great Resignation.' That said, we have had an unusual amount of turnover at town hall."

Fitzgerald cited the retirement of long-serving department heads and some of the burdens of so many long virtual night meetings during the COVID=19 pandemic as two apparent causes of strain on town staff.

"It's been clear over the past two years that folks have been more critical of folks in government," he said. "I know that as elected officials you understand that better than most. But it happens on every level of public service.

"Work-life balance has been really difficult for a lot of individuals, especially our individuals with young families. These are positions that on the best of days are going to be demanding."

Titcomb advocated hiring an independent consultant to look at the town's organizational structure, compensation and work-life balance issues, but Board instead charged Fitzgerald to take the next six weeks to survey his staff, get help from outside consultants and resources as necessary and return with actionable objectives at the April 13 meeting.

"This isn't about finding things that are wrong," Titcomb said. "This is about identifying things for us when we're in it and we don't have the time to step out of it to do that work."

Fitzgerald said some of those conversations had already begun and ideas generated from those conversations include thinking about a four-day workweek that takes into account staff working late one or two of those days for meetings or other responsibilities, a dedicated town childcare system possibly using recreation, library or schools resources and $30,000 in potential bonus payments requested in his $78 million Fiscal Year 2022 preliminary budget proposal.

"My gut is that compensation has to be on the table," Select Board member Peter Spellios said. "You hear people say that town employees are overpaid. I don't think there is anybody here who is overpaid and I think there are remarkable people who are underpaid. (People) are just wrong in that criticism."

Fitzgerald said he expects to have many of the current openings filled within the next six weeks, but allowed that he will have to take a critical look at some ways the town can better keep those positions filled.

"At the end of the day I'm responsible for all of it," he said. "Both what has worked well and what hasn't worked," he said. "I have been a change agent and I was hired as someone who has come to Swampscott and really looked at things differently.

"But I have to look differently at the types of relationships we have with some of the employees. I have to do a better job listening to employees and understand some of the challenges that our employees are facing."

(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.)