Four in running to be Hatfield town administrator

Hatfield Town Hall 04-14-2023

Hatfield Town Hall 04-14-2023

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 09-29-2024 2:31 PM

HATFIELD — A Northampton native with municipal management experience in Pennsylvania, a chief of staff for the city of Newburyport, and two Hatfield residents, including one who is currently town coordinator in Westhampton and another who is a former member of the Select Board, are the four finalists to be the next town administrator.

The Select Board Thursday interviewed the finalists recommended by the Town Administrator Search Committee to succeed Marlene Michonski, who is retiring at the end of the year after serving as town administrator for 18 of the past 22 years. Hatfield has 3,183 residents.

The finalists are Brian Moriarty and Douglas Finn, both Hatfield residents, Andrew Levine of Lowell and Michael Lapinski of Boston.

An advertisement for the job states the town administrator performs administrative, management and supervisory work coordinating activities of town departments, commissions, boards and officers under the jurisdiction of the Select Board, and attendance is required at all Select Board meetings and Town Meetings.

Select Board Chairwoman Diana Szynal said Friday she is impressed with the caliber of candidates.

No decision has yet been made by the board, though, on selecting one as the next town administrator.

Moriarty, a resident since 1999, told the Select Board he has a background in business, with a more than 40-year career as a telecommunications project manager and coordinator. Moriarty also served nine years on the town’s Select Board and 15 years on the town’s School Committee, after moving from Holyoke.

“I think it’s a perfect fit of public sector, along with the private sector, and I think it’s a good mix,” Moriarty said of his experience.

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He added that he would like to retire as Hatfield’s town administrator, if named to the position. “This isn’t a stepping stone for me,” Moriarty said.

Finn, a two-year Hatfield resident who grew up in Northampton, said he observed government casually since the mid 1990s, though his first elected position is on the town’s Planning Board.

Formerly executive assistant to the town administrator in Deerfield, and Planning Board administrator in Edgartown, Finn is Westhampton’s town coordinator, helping the Select Board on all tasks, including town budgets.

In the town administrator role, Finn said he would remain impartial, provide both sides of arguments for the Select Board to make decisions, while also helping the town to grow and prosper.

“If I get this job, I think it would be the last job. I have no intention of going anywhere else,” Finn said.

Levine grew up in Framingham and Wayland, and has long been interested in government and politics, earning a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Working for four years at MassDevelopment, he then became director of administrative services in Billerica before landing his current role as chief of staff in Newburyport.

Now, Levine said he would like to take on a higher leadership role and give back to a community. He said his wife has ties to western Massachusetts.

“I’d also feel successful if it feels like we’re not just managing what’s in front of us, but also thinking about the future, and really setting us up for a strong future in Hatfield, and honestly for the region at large,” Levine said.

Lapinski, a Northampton native, worked in Boston before moving to Pennsylvania to start a family. He relocated back to Massachusetts five years ago, adding that his grandfather was a potato farmer in Hatfield, and he also remembers playing sports for “Hamp High” against Smith Academy.

“It was great to see this opportunity for me to join your team to help out,” Lapinski said.

He has been assistant town manager in a community with 18,000 residents in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and has experience working for city government in Princeton, New Jersey.

While living in Boston, he plans to relocate to western Massachusetts in the fall, and wants to create a community with a high quality of life through public service.

“My goal is to be helpful,” Lapinski said. “My success is measured based on how much I can help somebody.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.