Town Leadership
The Concord Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Kerry A. Lafleur
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Kerry A. Lafleur is Concord’s Town Manager, appointed by the five elected members of the Select Board. Concord has run this way since 1956, under a charter the Legislature passed in 1952 and the town accepted at the ballot box in 1955, and that charter is unusually direct about what the office holds. Section 2 D says the Town Manager appoints, upon merit and fitness alone, and may remove for cause, every officer, board, committee and employee of the town, with four exceptions it names out loud: the Town Clerk, the Town Treasurer, the Town Collector and a board of five Assessors, each of which also needs the Select Board’s approval. Everything else in the operating side of Concord’s government, the department heads included, is the manager’s appointment to make. Section 9 adds the purchasing and the contracts, and lets the manager combine or reorganize a department outright with the agreement of at least three Select Board members. Section 16 puts the budget estimate on the manager’s desk 90 days before Town Meeting. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts in this office, then goes to the board, and then to the room where every registered voter can vote it down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board for a three year term under charter section 5, and eligible for successive terms |
| Office | Town House, 22 Monument Square, Concord, MA 01742 |
| Phone | 978-318-3000 |
| Website | concordma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter section 2 D gives the Town Manager the appointment of all other officers, boards, committees and employees of the town, upon merit and fitness alone, and the power to remove for cause. Concord’s Police Chief and Fire Chief fall inside that clause, so they are the manager’s appointments to make. Four offices sit outside it and need the Select Board’s approval as well: the Town Clerk, the Town Treasurer, the Town Collector and a board of five Assessors.
- Builds the budget. Section 16 requires the Town Manager, not less than 90 days before the Annual Town Meeting, to give the Select Board a detailed written estimate of the coming year’s spending, two prior years of actual spending, every source of revenue, and an estimate of the tax rate needed to pay for it. Every board and department in town has to hand the manager its own numbers on request.
- Runs the town’s property and its purchasing. Section 9 gives the manager full jurisdiction over the use and upkeep of town property, apart from the schools, and requires the manager to purchase all supplies and equipment and to award all contracts for every department.
- Answers to the board. The Select Board appoints the Town Manager for three years under section 5 and may remove the manager under section 7 by the affirmative vote of at least three of its five members, after filing a written resolution with the Town Clerk that states the specific reasons at least thirty days in advance. The manager may demand a public hearing on it.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Concord’s charter divides the appointing power three ways rather than two. It is worth knowing which is which before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that.
- The Select Board appoints the Town Manager, and section 2 B hands it a named list of its own: the library committee, the Planning Board, the Board of Appeals, the Town Accountant, the trustees of town donations, the personnel board, election officers and the registrars of voters. The town counts more than twenty boards and committees the board appoints in all, permanent and ad hoc, and it signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Moderator appoints the Finance Committee. That is section 2 C, and it is the clause worth remembering: the committee that reviews the money before Town Meeting votes it answers to an official you elect for one year at a time, and not to the board or the manager whose budget it is reviewing.
- The Town Manager appoints everything else and runs it, and under section 4 may even assume the powers of an office in the manager’s own gift, with the board’s approval, by filing a signed declaration with the Town Clerk.
Section 17 shows how those pieces move in sequence. The manager writes the budget. The Select Board reviews it and adds its recommendations. Then, not less than sixty days before the Annual Town Meeting, the board has to put a copy in the hands of every member of the Finance Committee. Three sets of eyes are on the number before it ever reaches the floor, and the floor is the one that decides.
Contact & Engage
- Town House: 22 Monument Square, Concord, MA 01742. Open Monday through Thursday 8:30AM to 4:30PM and Friday 8:30AM to 12:30PM.
- Town Manager’s Office: 978-318-3000.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 978-318-3200.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on its published calendar at the Town House at 6:00 PM, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 14, 2026.
Sources
- Town records: Town of Concord, Staff Directory, Public Works, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Concord, Town Manager, as of October 2026.