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

 A Small World:

Sterling residents were introduced for the first time to the contenders for the position of town administrator during an evening of interviews held by selectmen on Nov. 14.

Residents must wait until final discussion and a vote by the board at its regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20 to find out who will fill the post at the end of the year. The decision will be posted on thelandmark.com.

Recommended as the top three candidates for the post after Town Administrator Search Committee members conducted the research and pared the list down to Athol Town Manager Michael Slzosek of Ludlow, Moultonborough, N.H. Town Administrator Carter Terenzini of Spencer, and Templeton Town Coordinator Jeff Ritter of Harvard.

Selectman chairman Ronald Furmaniuk and vice chairman Brian Patacchiola were present for the interviews. According to Furmaniuk, although selectman Robert Cutler was unable to attend in person, he was watching the interviews from home through the local access programming. After the conclusion of the interviews, Furmaniuk and Patacchiola praised the search committee’s efforts, noting that all three were “excellent” candidates. Patacchiola remarked that he was “incredibly impressed” and “very excited” with the top choices, adding that each expressed “a pretty unique personality” and management style. He added that any one of the three would fit well in Sterling.

Slzosek, who has been town manager in Athol since 2012, had previously served in the same post for a little more than two years in Uxbridge and prior to that as town administrator in South Hadley and Ludlow. He had also run his own private law office from 1992-2004.

Slzosek said being involved with many elected officials over the years has influenced his management style, which he describes as collaborative and involves regular meetings with department heads and periodic staff meetings. “I try to get everybody on board,” he commented, adding, “I like people to follow my lead because they understand we’re going in the right direction, not because I pointed them there.” Slzosek stressed his “open door policy” which in Athol, he jokingly remarked, has left him with a rare opportunity for lunchtime breaks as that is when most come to see him over various concerns. He added more seriously, however, that regardless, “I get things done.”

Slzosek said he tends to be “fiscally conservative” in dealing with budgets. He noted that in his first year as Athol town manager, he worked to reduce town spending by about $300,000 because he felt the projected revenues would not support the higher budget.

During his interview, Terenzini noted he has more than 30 years of both public and private service, including his current position as town administrator for the town of Moultonborough, N.H. that he has held since 2008. Terenzini had previously served as town administrator for town of Spencer from 1999-2008, city manager for Mt. Morris, Mich. from 1997-1999, and town manager of Castleton, Vt. from 1994-1996.

In his letter to the search committee, Terenzini said, “You would be retaining someone with a reputation for team-building, innovation, and solid accomplishment who can generate enthusiasm over the driest of public policy matters.”

During his interview, Terenzini told selectmen that ultimately it must be a “good fit” between the town and its department heads and the choice of new town administrator. He said he was “realistic, creative, dependable” and a “strong communicator.”

Terenzini remarked that public service “is something that I enjoy, I have a passion for. I believe that a well-rounded government, a fiscally conservative government, a frugal government can be a positive factor in people’s lives in developing a sense of quality of life, of personal safety, of property safety, of educational opportunity that allows them to be and the community to be all that it can be.”

He pointed out some of the major issues facing Sterling, including infrastructural needs of town roads, the growing school budget, and services for seniors. He noted that it is the job of the Board of Selectmen to give him goals to work on, but at the end of the day, “It’s the people’s town.”

The third interview was Jeff Ritter, who lives in Harvard and has been serving as town administrator for Templeton for about one year. Previously, he had served as town administrator for about two years each for the towns of Hatfield and Harvard.

In his comments to the board, Ritter said, “frankly, my strong suit is my ability to facilitate.” He said that in his current role in Templeton, he has aided in a complete restructuring of the core of the town with the hiring of a new town treasurer and town counsel, and a new financial general ledger, charter of accounts, payroll system, Web site and email system.

“I work first and foremost for the board,” he said, “but through you, I work for the citizens, the taxpayers of Sterling.” He said his focus would be working on “common issues to move the town forward.”

Ritter noted that he would bring to the job his three-legged belief system: fact, law and transparency. Through this system, he would always seek out the solid facts in any pursuit or goal, determine whether these facts meet with local, state or federal law, and also conduct “the public’s business in public.”

He said that everyone in the town has the right to know what is being done and how. “There are no secrets. There can be no secrets,” he said. Like Slzosek, Ritter noted his belief in an “open door policy.”

Ritter said he believed that the job of the Board of Selectmen should be policy making and planning, but that the actual daily implementation of these policies and planning efforts should be done by the department heads and staff.

He said what attracted him to Sterling was the town’s possibility for future planning and growth.

He said town officials are in a good position to “drive change” and look into how the town can possibly grow by attracting light industry to Sterling while retaining its old New England charm, character and traditions. He also urged the possibility of planning for future projects and creating project plans and specs to be able to act quickly on state funding that might be made available.

Patacchiola said that officials are looking for a new administrator who “understands and cares about where we live.”

He added that the new town administrator should be passionate and invested and active in the community and should be able to work well with the staff.

Current Town Administrator Terri Ackerman will retire by the end of December.

Due to accumulated vacation time, she will remain on the town’s payroll until early January and has promised to assist in the transition when the new town administrator begins work.

posted by Jeff Bennett

March 25, 2015

MOULTONBOROUGH ⎯ Town Administrator Carter Terenzini has resigned his position effective April 1.

Terenzini tendered his resignation last Tuesday, and a formal announcement was made at Thursday's selectmen's meeting.

Terenzini has served as Moultonborough's town administrator since March of 2008. Previously, he served as the town administrator of Spencer, Mass. for nine years, the city manager of Mount Morris, Michigan, and the town manager of Castleton, Vt.

Terenzini's resignation came following controversy over some of his actions.

In 2013, removal hearings took place against planning board members Josh Bartlett and Judy Ryerson following their rulings on the matter of Bear's Nest Trail LLC. Terenzini was instrumental in this process. At the hearing, the selectmen voted against removing Bartlett from the position and voted to discontinue the hearing for Ryerson.

Later that year, a petition signed by more than 200 people was submitted to the selectmen asking them not to renew Terenzini's contract due to the planning board removal hearings and a number of other grievances. The board did renew Terenzini's contract until 2016.

Petitioners then brought forward an article on this year's town warrant to remove the town administrator position effective on May 1. Petitioners said the article was an action of no confidence against Terenzini. Voters rejected the article at town meeting amid testimony that removing the position could be detrimental to town business.

The board of selectmen issued a press release on Friday announcing Terenzini's resignation with comments by now former board of selectmen chair Jonathan Tolman.

"The Board thanks Carter for his dedicated and passionate service to the community during his seven years as Town Administrator," Tolman stated in the press release. "We appreciate the depth of his knowledge and skill set and recognize the many contributions he has made to the town, from successfully leading us through our first negotiation, unionization, and collective bargaining agreement to helping the town to establish neighborhood input meetings and standards of practice for public works projects. During his tenure, Moultonborough was able to institute an affordable, quality health insurance plan for the benefit of our employees, all while saving the town over $200,000 per year. Carter also partnered with the community stakeholders to reduce areas of deficit, particularly in the Visiting Nurse Services. For this we are grateful."

According to the statement, Terenzini's resignation resulted from the board of selectmen's "philosophical shift as to the role of the Town Administrator's position in the operations of the town."

"Mr. Tolman said that Mr. Terenzini recognized the possible disruption to employees, volunteers, and organization by continuing in the employ of the town without the support of the full board membership and decided to resign in the best interest of the community," the statement read.

According to the press release, the future of the town administrator's position, including any filling of the position in the interim, will be the subject of coming board discussions.

"I want to thank the staff that I've had an opportunity to work with," Terenzini said at Thursday's meeting. "We've got some great folks."

Terenzini also thanked those who have called or emailed him.

He said he is certain he will get "as many things wrapped up as we can."

"I'd like to thank you for everything," said current board chair Chris Shipp.

Other members of the board gave Terenzini thanks as well.

posted by Jeff Bennett