Resume The Town Manager Search - NOW!

Ken O’Brien

At the April 7^th meeting of the Southbridge Town Council, Councilor Darlene Marcucci announced the suspension of the search for a town manager to replace Christopher Clark. Based upon the advice of the search committee’s consultant, the committee decided that to continue at this point would result in a dearth of candidates because of the pending petition to return the community to a selectmen/town meeting form of government.

In an earlier article I suggested a course of action that would result in delaying the effective date of any adoption of the proposal for at least a year and the date of it actually taking effect for at least two years.

In a comment on the same article I stated that I would put forth a suggestion for dealing with the town manager issue in the interim.

Well, here’s the fulfillment of that promise.

Southbridge’s Rogue Regime

Ken O’Brien

John Adams famously observed that a republic is “a government of laws, and not of men.”

This view was subsequently enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Article XXX of the Bill of Rights states:

“Art. XXX. In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men. “

At January 23^rd’s meeting of the Southbridge Town Council, the ruling majority threw this concept out the window