Letter: Town Should Look Outside for New Town Manager

To the editor:

North Kingstown will soon be conducting a search leading to interviews and the hiring of a new Town Manager. What should we be looking for in this new manager or our town? I believe that a proven management record, forward planning, finance and budget experience are primary; we need a Town Manager with a business aptitude and attitude that respects his fellow residents. As times and business continues to evolve so should our next Town Manger because we cannot continue or afford to do business as we have for the past 20 years.

As we listen to yearly threats of reduced town service(s), we experience yearly increases on the town side in our property taxes. It is important that our next Town Manager is willing to work with and learn from neighboring towns as well as private businesses. Doing the same thing over and over again thinking that you will get different results just doesn’t work. We, the tax payers, must demand different results if we are going to stabilize our taxes improve business investment in our community and lower our operating cost. We only have to look at our neighbor to the South and see smaller tax increases and smaller budgets, why?

I hope that we look at all applicants not just those from the rotating fraternity of town managers and administrators. I would like to see a business person with a resume that shows the experience of running a large business , which can demonstrate the experience of managing a large and diverse staff, budgets, labor agreements and forward thinking that will present options to problems for our town council to review and approve. Putting fires out with no options presented is not management or forward thinking. Let’s change how we operate in the future. We just can’t continue to do things the way they have been done under our current management.

Change can be a good for our town. Being pro-active rather than how we have been, re-active, will be good for North Kingstown and our future. I am looking forward to public involvement in the process of vetting a new town manager, one that is balanced with the make up of our community not one that is lop sided by party affiliation or loaded with town employees. This is our community and we deserve a voice in the selection of our next manager.

Richard Welch

Editor’s note: the writer is a former member of the North Kingstown Town Council.