Selectman John A. Hurd has defended his appointment as interim town clerk by providing for publication his letter of application for the position. Meanwhile, one of the selectmen who voted in the case, Annie LaCourt, has provided responses to questions, and Clarissa Rowe says she plans to respond. Diane Mahon, who voted against the appointment, offered comments to the Arlington e-mail list.

The day after Hurd was chosen among five candidates in a 3-to-1 vote Thursday, Feb. 25, YourArlington asked all involved a series of questions. Here are the questions, who responded so far and the responses:

Hurd, selectman since 1997, was asked:

— When do you plan to leave the Board of Selectman and take the position of interim town clerk?

— What qualifications do you have to be a town clerk?

— What changes do you plan to make in that office?

— How you plan to avoid the public perception of cronyism in this appointment?

Hurd answered in an e-mail Feb. 26:

"First, at this point in time a decision has not yet been made on an official date. I believe the intention is to have some over-lap. I can tell you however, I have already talked to Town Clerk [Corinne] Rainville and I do plan on meeting next week with her to begin the transition process.

"I think the best way to answer questions 2 & 3 is to provide you with my letter of interest to the Selectmen (see below).

"In answer to the last question, I sincerely believe that in the final analysis the majority of the Selectmen made their decision based on each candidate's skills, experience, education and vision for the future and I'm very excited about the opportunity."

The other candidates were Stephanie Lucarelli, who has been assistant town clerk for 16 years; Michele Meagher, former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce; Martha Drouet, an attorney and tax-preparer; and Allison Betts, a business owner.

In a follow-up, Hurd was asked when he expects to step down as selectman, but he has not yet responded.

LaCourt responds to questions voting selectmen were asked

The four members of the Board of Selectmen who voted were asked four questions, once on Feb. 25, a second time Feb. 26 and a third time March 2. Rowe said March 2 that she is working on her response. LaCourt responded Feb. 28:

— Why did you vote as you did on appointing an interim town clerk?

"For a variety of reasons. First of all, I never assumed that the Board of Selectman would automatically appoint the Assistant Clerk as interim and I was surprised that people believed that that would be a good assumption for the Board to make.

"Secondly, we had letters of interest from several candidates before we met as a board on February 1 and could talk about a process amongst ourselves. In fact, we had a letter of interest from Ms. Lucarelli and one other candidate before I knew Mr. Hurd was interested. So I knew we needed to run an honest process without a foregone conclusion, I read the resumes submitted and counted on the interviews to help me choose among them. I went into the process looking for a candidate who was interested in modernizing the office and changing the way the town clerk works with the other appointing authorities in terms of attending meetings and setting the budget as well as someone with enough knowledge of town government and the Clerk's role to provide for continuity.

"I voted for the candidate who best met my criteria and impressed me as the most likely to be able to make the changes needed while establishing good working relationships with the current staff and  showing respect and appreciation for their dedication to their work."

— What qualifications do you think Jack Hurd has that the other candidates did not?

"Jack had years of experience as a manager at Polaroid, had worked on projects that involved implementing new technology, had experience with continuous improvement processes and had managed a large staff and budget.

"He also had long experience in Arlington town government."

— What changes do you expect the appointee to make to this office?

"I expect that Mr. Hurd will work with the town's CTO and the ITAC to create a plan to modernize the office's use of technology and the internet during his term as the interim Clerk.  The Town Clerk's office has a seat on the ITAC that the current Clerk has not filled herself nor has she asked a staff member to attend those meetings.

"I believe Mr. Hurd intends to avail himself of the opportunity that participating as member of the ITAC entails just as the current Treasurer does. I believe creating such a plan and hopefully beginning to implement it is one way to make the Clerk's services more accessible to residents, to better protect our records by ensuring that electronic copies exist and are backed up regularly, and to use the money we spend on these services in the most effective way possible."


— How you plan to avoid the public perception of cronyism in this appointment?

"I thought long and hard about that question before I made my choice on Thursday. Obviously, it was a consideration going into the interviews. Given public sentiment, the clearest choice was Ms. Lucarelli and, barring that, an outside candidate other than Mr. Hurd who would not risk the appearance of cronyism.

"Once the interviews were complete, I knew I had to choose between what I thought would play best politically and what I felt would be best organizationally for the town.  I chose the latter but I don't think my saying that is credible proof that it's true. If I am right and Mr. Hurd lives up to my expectations, then my decision will be vindicated. That is what I believe will happen."

Mahon comments to Arlington e-mail list

Mahon has declined to comment to YourArlington after three requests.

She posted the reasons for her no vote to the Arlington e-mail list Feb. 26. She did not respond to two requests for permission to publish, but her words are quoted here because she is a public official:

"I was the dissenting vote. The meeting was extremely disappointing for me, personally. I guess I'll stop there for now and just give bare facts of the actual vote:

"After a discussion ensued before we even voted, which pretty much indicated to me that the decision was probably already made, I reminded my colleagues that we needed to rank the order and take a vote(s) first. We were asked to rank from #1 to #5, and didn't have to rank all five, but had to rank at least two.

"Then, the results were read. Mr. Hurd received three #1s, Ms. Lucarelli received one #1 (that being myself). Then Ms. Meagher received two #2s, and Ms. Doucet received two #2s.

"Then Town Counsel advised the Board after the 3-1 vote that some or all of us may want to file an Ethics Disclosure Statement to the Town Clerk's office, which was already prepared and presented to us in our packet last week."

Comments from Greeley awaited

Greeley, facing reelection this spring, has not responded to three requests for comment.

But he and Mahon spoke to The Boston Globe on Feb. 26.

Greeley told The Globe: "Certainly there are some that are claiming this is cronyism," Greeley said. "I truly believe he was the best candidate."

He said the annual salary for the position would be between $70,000 and $80,000, though the exact amount will be negotiated with Hurd.

Mahon told The Globe that she felt uncomfortable voting for Hurd because it could appear that the board was simply appointing "one of our own." She said many people approached her about the process and said appointing a fellow selectman would be cronyism.

Others on the Arlington e-mail list have raised questions about whether the appointment is legal. Town Counsel Julian Rice has been asked what legal advice she provided selectmen before the vote.

Selectmen expect to discuss a timeline at their March 8 meeting with an appointment of an interim selectman, coordinated by Town Moderator John Leone and Greeley, expected March 22. The term of Hurd's selectmen seat continues until 2012.

Rainville said in January that she plans to retire a year before her term ends from the post. She has not said exactly why other than to report that it was "time."

Hurd's application letter for interim clerk

John W. Hurd,

38 Spy Pond Parkway, Arlington, MA 02474 (781) 648-2169

February 15, 2010

Arlington Board of Selectmen, 750 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476

Dear Chairman Greeley and Honorable Board of Selectmen:

Having become aware of the resignation of Town Clerk Corrine Rainville, effective on April 17, 2010, I am writing to inform you of my sincere interest in this position and to ask for your consideration of my appointment as the interim Town Clerk for the remainder of Ms. Rainville’s current term.

My extensive background in operations management, project management and municipal governing would bring to this position a vast and varied level of relative experience from both the private and public sectors.

As a manager at Polaroid Corporation, I had more than 25 employees under my direct supervision, and was responsible for: planning, reporting, budgeting, scheduling, capital planning and facilities management for an organization with an annual budget of over $25,000,000. As a Project Manager for the division ISO9000 Quality Management System Committee, I led a cross-functional team of individuals that developed and implemented an electronic quality system that resulted in the successful certification of our plant by an internationally recognized quality standards organization.

And, as a trained Total Quality Ownership Facilitator, I have worked with Business Improvement Teams utilizing TQO tools and techniques to resolve a variety of complex issues.

In the public sector, as a Town Meeting member for 6 years and a member of the Board of Selectmen for 13 years, I have extensive experience working with the people of Arlington and representatives of all departments and offices within town government. As you are aware, the Board of Selectmen performs many similar functions to those of the Town Clerk’s Office, such as customer and constituent service, the issuance of licenses and the administration of town, state and federal elections.

Our office works collaboratively with the Town Clerk’s Office to establish dates for local elections and Town Meetings, to prepare the Annual Town Warrant, to staff polling sites, to determine voting locations and to appoint Voter Registrars.  As a past candidate for both state and local office, I have first-hand knowledge and experience with the election nomination process, financial reporting requirements and ethics law.    

My additional relevant educational background includes degrees in Business Management from Curry College and Management & Information Systems from Northeastern University, the completion of the Municipal Government Policy Program at Kennedy School of Government and training courses in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook and Publisher. 

In closing, I would welcome the opportunity to work diligently and effectively for the citizens of Arlington with the excellent office staff, elected and appointed officials and our town leadership team.  I believe future goals for the Clerk’s Office should focus on the implementation of new office technologies, electronic access, storage and security of documents, town web site enhancements, cost savings ideas and new revenue options.

I believe my education, background and experience qualify me as a strong candidate for this position.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

John W. Hurd

This story was first published Sunday, Feb. 28, and updated twice, most recently March 2.