Select Board finally posts goals, but goal posts and goal line are undefined
In my Aug. 27 column, “If you don’t know where you are going, any path will take you there” I asked the question whether our School Committee and Select Board, our two “executive” bodies, have strategic initiatives aligned with real critical issues facing the town. Do they have specific measurable goals for these initiatives? Do they have schedules? From my perspective, the answer for the School Committee was no. For the Select Board, the jury was out since they hadn’t posted their FY26 goals yet.
On Oct. 7, the Select Board finally posted its FY26 goals developed at their mid-summer retreat on July 18 nearly three months earlier. Real timely, huh?
This four-page document identifies 37 objectives in seven goal areas: 1. Good governance, 2.Communications and public engagement, 3. Finance and budgeting, 4. Capital planning and investment, 5. Community quality of life, 6. Workforce and human resources, and 7. Community development and economic growth.
These numbers are even bigger than the School Committee’s! And like the School Committee, the Select Board objectives don’t define a location for the goal line or goal posts. You can’t tell when they score — what defines accomplishing a goal. In a reply to Select Boarder Erin Noonan on my perspectives, I stated they are a “mushy amalgamation of FY25 activities and FY26 plans.”
To repeat some closing comments in my earlier column: “Both the Select Board and School Committee are missing focus — a laser focus on a very small set of high priority SIs that address our most critical issues. Each strategic initiative must have an action plan with an owner, an outline of the actions or steps that the plan will pursue and a schedule. And the goals need to be measurable in some way. Progress reports should be published quarterly. “
Continuing my comments: “Our municipal service organization and schools are both hamstrung by very modest property tax revenue increases of 2.5% and escalating operational costs well above this percentage. Consequently, both the Select Board and School Committee should each have strategic initiatives related to 1. increasing revenue and 2. controlling/reducing costs.
And since student academic performance/testing may be viewed as below peers, the School Committee should have a strategic initiative related to curriculum. And how about a strategic initiative related to increasing Town Meeting participation? That’s a total of six. Doable? Hope so!”
And here’s the latest news. In the Oct. 22 Select Board meeting, Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin predicted the need for the first general override since 2005 “to sustain high-quality services.” Maybe we don’t need high quality services in all areas. Maybe “good enough” is good enough.
Select Board misses the boat with town administrator contract renewal
I am an advocate of running Marblehead as a real business. In this context, the compensation of executive and senior management is typically structured as salary plus incentive compensation. For example, two thirds of target compensation would be salary and one third tied to management-by-objectives bonuses. There might also be the ability through overachievement on MBO performance to earn more than 100% of target compensation.
In May, the Select Board extended Town Administrator Kezar’s contract for three years with a salary of $218.800, representing a 7.9% raise, 2% COLA increases each year and improvements in numerous benefits. No formal performance reviews were included.
“Where this is a last contract extension because he is retiring after it we didn’t include a new term about a performance review,” then-Select Board chair Erin Noonan told the Current.
But the contract should have included annual formal performance reviews of jointly developed annual MBOs. The problem? The Select Board didn’t and still doesn’t have measurable annual goals. The board didn’t even discuss their poorly crafted FY26 goals until their July 17 retreat and only approved them at their Aug. 13 meeting. The town administrator is now a lame duck. The SB missed an opportunity for managing the Town Administrator over the next three years.
Not Headers, inflated heads
I am not one for “titles” but it appears that Kezer and Benjamin are. Kezer positions himself as Marblehead’s “chief administrative officer,” yet his official title is simply “town administrator.”
Same thing for Benjamin. She positions herself as “chief financial officer” with an official title of “finance director”. Now I do think Benjamin has been doing some good things and has plans to do more. The Select Board would be well served to have them earn these titles by giving them very specific jointly developed goals to be completed in very specific time frames. With Kezer announcing his retirement in 2028, some residents need no longer fear Kezer becoming Mayor of Marblehead. Unless, like Trump, he decides to run for a third term.
3A: Select Board is tone-deaf
At the request of the Select Board, Governor Healy is spending your valuable tax dollars on yet another goose chase in Town. The Barrett Planning Group has been hired to identify alternatives to the MBTACommunities Act (3A) plan rejected by voters in July. This includes identifying additional districts or different districts for 3A overlay zoning. They also say they are meeting with the No 3A (N3A) crowd to get their input as they develop a new proposal.
The Select Board is tone-deaf. Marblehead needs to zone for 897 units for 3A compliance. The tone of the 3A opposition — they will not support any plan that supports that number and its potential impact on Marblehead’s character, quality of life, schools, utilities, traffic, police, fire, aesthetics and more. It doesn’t matter how many overlay zoning districts there are or where those districts are located.
The No 3A leaders did an unbelievable job of rallying their troops for the special election. The Yes 3A crowd, after their Town Meeting victory, became apathetic.
I can envision another round of battles in what will become a not so civil war over 3A compliance. Town Meeting 2026 will entail a fourth vote. Whichever side loses would again seek to overturn the Town Meeting vote in another special election. Could this go on forever? The only way to end this war is for one side to win the next two votes. This comes down to two questions: 1. Which sympathizer group is bigger? 2. What leaders can better motivate their sympathizers to show up for the vote? Buckle up your helmet.
Talk to me at marbleheadmusing@gmail.com.
James (Seamus) Hourihan was born in Marblehead and is a MHS graduate. For 35 years, he worked in finance, marketing and executive management roles at high-tech companies. He has lived here full-time since 2009. He currently sits on the Town Charter Committee.
