The Town Manager Acts Review Committee for the Town of Danvers met Feb. 5 and spent substantial time discussing how the town handles succession for the town manager and how statutory language in Section 11 interacts with contract terms, ultimately voting to table revisions to Section 11 for further research.

Committee members emphasized that the town manager contract references succession planning and contains a clause directing the town manager to confer with the select board when appointing an assistant town manager. Committee members noted that the contract language suggests the select board “may wish to consider the incumbent assistant town manager for appointment” if a vacancy occurs, but that the broader statutory Section 11 also contains language about suspension with pay and an established payment period following suspension.

The committee debated whether the Section 11 sentence tying suspension or termination pay to a fixed period (three months' pay) should remain in the statute or be replaced by language deferring to whatever the written employment contract provides. Some members said keeping the statutory minimum clarifies limits for future negotiations; others said removing it would allow the select board and future town managers more flexibility in contract negotiations.

On the narrower question of the assistant town manager role, the committee agreed the act (as drafted) treats that position as a role the town manager may create and define, not an automatic successor to the town manager. The committee noted that the assistant town manager’s duties have varied historically and that the title alone does not guarantee authority to serve as acting town manager if the town manager leaves office. The contract language requiring the town manager to “confer with the select board as part of the process” when appointing an assistant town manager drew particular attention; members said that clause limits, to some degree, the town manager’s unilateral appointment power for that post.

After discussion the committee voted to table the proposed amendment to Section 11 so members could gather additional legal background and clarify what state law or historical practice requires. The committee directed staff to research prior versions of the act and any applicable state statutes and to bring that information back at a future meeting.

Votes at the meeting included motions to move Section 11 to a later meeting for more research; the motion to table passed with committee consensus. The discussion closed with the group scheduling follow-up research and a plan to raise the question with town counsel before proposing final language changes.

The committee scheduled its next meetings for Feb. 19 (at the senior center) and March 5 (location as previously posted).

Ending: The committee left Section 11 in draft form and asked staff to collect contractual excerpts, historical iterations of the Town Manager Act, and any relevant state-law references to inform the next discussion.