By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Posted Jan. 15, 2008 at 6:00 AM 

SPENCER

After interviewing for jobs in Vermont and Ohio last year and being turned down for both, Town Administrator Carter Terenzini has tendered his resignation, but it is unclear where he is headed next.

In a surprise move midway through last night’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen, board Chairman Vincent P. Cloutier made the announcement.

“This evening I regret to inform you that Carter Terenzini has officially resigned as town administrator,” he said, reading from a prepared statement. Mr. Cloutier said the board had not asked for Mr. Terenzini’s resignation.

Board members later met behind closed doors to begin working out details of Mr. Terenzini’s final weeks. His contract requires 90 days’ notice and no date has been set for his departure.

Mr. Terenzini was the town’s first administrator; he started work here in June 1999.

His tenure was colorful and, at times, controversial, though Mr. Cloutier said, “Whether you agreed with him or not, he has a style all his own and I believe that history will remember him in a very positive light.”

In 2005, Mr. Terenzini was criticized for submitting a misleading résumé for a job in Ashland. The document indicated he had a bachelor’s degree in public policy-administration, which, at that time, he did not. He sent a letter correcting the information to that town’s selectmen, but was passed over for the job.

He has since earned a master’s in business administration from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 2006 he was disciplined behind closed doors for having a romantic liaison with a Town Hall employee. That incident had some residents calling for his ouster.

Last year he applied for, but did not get, two jobs. He was not selected for one in Barre, Vt. He sought a post in Oberlin, Ohio, but officials there removed his name from consideration for the city manager’s job after learning he had neglected to tell them about the Town Hall affair.

Still, selectmen last night said they were saddened to hear that he would be leaving.

“I will miss you sorely,” Peter J. Durant said.

Selectman John T. Gagnon said Mr. Terenzini “established a very good base in which the next town administrator can move forward.”

Board members voted to spend $8,000 to advertise the position. They said they will not comment further on Mr. Terenzini’s resignation.

In a prepared statement, Mr. Terenzini said he told people when he was hired that he planned to stay at the Spencer job from three to five years.

“The average life span for a manager who is any community’s first experience with this form of government is 1-1/2 years,” he said. “By any measure I have now enjoyed several lifetimes here in Spencer.”

Mr. Terenzini declined to say whether he has found another job. In his statement, he said the town has come a long way in the past nine years with sound finances and an emergency response system that was “tested by tragedy” in a incident during which an excess amount of lye was released into the town’s water supply.

posted by Jeff Bennett