Rochester Town Administrator Michael McCue will remain in suspense as to whether or not he will be chosen by the Fairhaven Board of Selectmen as Fairhaven’s first official town administrator after selectmen refrained from taking a vote on Tuesday night, December 8.
Fairhaven Selectmen Chairman Geoff Haworth preferred to wait until the board was unanimous in its selection before announcing a chosen candidate from the three final contenders selected by a screening committee appointed by selectmen to hand-pick the applicants best suited for the new position to replace retiring Executive Secretary to the Selectmen Jeffrey Osuch.
Selectmen entered a mid-meeting executive session to discuss the matter at about 7:30 pm and then emerged after about an hour, announcing that no candidate had been chosen because selectmen were not unanimous in their choice. They released no further information on the matter that evening.
“This is obviously a very serious decision that will affect Fairhaven for quite some time,” McCue told The Wanderer Tuesday night. “It is understandable that the board wishes to take its time.”
McCue attended an hour and a half-long public interview on the morning of Saturday, December 5, along with the two other finalists for the position: former City Manager of Portland, Maine Mark Rees and current Whitman Town Administrator Assistant Gregory Enos.
“It speaks highly of your background to be selected by the committee,” Haworth told McCue on Saturday.
McCue, 49, married with two children and currently living in Mansfield, said the Fairhaven position appealed to him because of its location, the challenge it would offer, and the historical character of the town and its architecture.
McCue told Fairhaven selectmen during his interview that he enjoyed working in Rochester and his looking elsewhere for a position was in no way “an indictment of the Town of Rochester.”
“When opportunities like this arise,” said McCue, “…a job like this might not come up for another 20 years…”
Fairhaven selectmen plan to continue discussing the town administrator vote and will strive to make a decision on Monday, December 14, during a noontime meeting.
By Jean Perry
