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Got a question? Try Ask the MMA Do town managers in different towns have roughly the same authority?
Got a question? Try Ask the MMA Do town managers in different towns have roughly the same authority?Do town managers in different towns have roughly the same authority?
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August 29, 2007
A: Because neither title is defined by state law, a town manager or town administrator in one town will not necessarily have the same authority as a person with the same title in another town.
Distinctions among the powers of town administrators are particularly noteworthy, due to a 1996 amendment to the 1956 law that enabled the creation of an executive secretary position (Chapter 41, Section 23a). Until 1996, town administrator positions, like those of town managers, were created through a home rule charter or special act of the Legislature. Executive secretary positions, by contrast, could be created through a town bylaw. The 1996 amendment, drafted by attorney D.M. Moschos of the firm Mirick O’Connell, gave towns the right to use “town administrator” as an alternative title to “executive secretary.”
The amendment reflected the sense that the title of executive secretary did not convey the authority the position is invested with. Since the new law went into effect, the number of Massachusetts towns with executive secretaries has declined from 55 to 13. Moschos says the change to the law has created two categories of “town administrator”—those with powers similar to a town manager’s, and those who have the more restricted powers of an executive secretary.
Town managers, and town administrators whose positions were created through the charter process rather than through a bylaw, are granted what Moschos describes as “sovereign authority”—the power to make appointments and prepare budgets. Town administrators who prior to 1996 would have been referred to as executive secretaries serve as agents of their boards of selectmen, which retain hiring and budget-making authority.
According to Moschos, the more meaningful distinction today is whether the top government official in a town functions as a “chief executive officer” or as a “chief administrative officer.” As chief executive officer, Moschos says, the person “determines the town’s priorities and the execution of the policies of the board of selectmen without [the board] overseeing him or her.” A CEO has the authority to enter into collective-bargaining agreements and purchasing contracts. In a town in which the top municipal official serves as a chief administrator officer, final authority for such decisions rests with the board of selectmen.
Moschos says he knows of no instance where a town administrator in Massachusetts is granted chief executive officer powers. But he says that some recent charters limit the authority of the town manager to that of a chief administrative officer.
