Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Eric Anderson
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls in Dalton, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Eric Anderson is the Town Manager, and he was hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, to whom he answers as the town’s Chief Administrative Officer. Dalton has run on this form since 1995, when the Legislature enacted the town’s Town Manager Act, Chapter 137 of the Acts of that year. The office concentrates the town’s day to day authority in one professional manager so that the elected board can concentrate on policy. What that means in practice is that most of the town’s departments report to Anderson, not to a separate elected head. The town’s own description of the office is specific: the Town Manager oversees all of the appointed department heads, including the Chief of Police, the Superintendent of Public Works and the town’s financial staff, and he also serves as the town’s Chief Procurement Officer and its Human Resources Director. He is the person the Select Board holds responsible when a department succeeds or falls short, which is why the board, and not any one department, is where a resident takes a concern that a phone call did not resolve. He also holds the pen on the town’s money. Each year the Town Manager manages the preparation of the annual town budget and prepares the warrants for both the Annual and any Special Town Meeting, the documents that decide what the town’s legislative body actually gets to vote on, and he oversees the town’s procurement for capital and operating purchases alike. None of this is the last word, though, and that is the part worth knowing. The budget the manager builds and the board reviews still has to be voted, line by line, by Town Meeting, the open assembly where every registered voter in Dalton is a member. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts in this office, then goes to the board, and then to the room where any resident who shows up can change it or vote it down. One thing this office does not run is the town’s water supply and its fire and ambulance service. Those belong to the Dalton Fire District, a separate government with its own elected commissioners.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 462 Main Street, Dalton, MA 01226 |
| Phone | 413-684-6111 ext. 201 |
| Website | dalton-ma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Oversees the departments. The Town Manager oversees the town’s appointed department heads, including the Chief of Police and the Superintendent of Public Works, along with the town’s financial staff, and serves as the town’s Chief Procurement Officer and its Human Resources Director. None of those heads is elected, which is why the Select Board holds the manager, and not any one department, to account.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Manager manages the preparation of the annual town budget and oversees the town’s procurement for capital and operating purchases alike, then sends the budget to the Select Board and on to Town Meeting.
- Writes the warrant. The Town Manager prepares the warrants for the Annual and any Special Town Meeting, the lists of articles that decide what the town’s registered voters actually get to vote on.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager is hired by, and reports to, the Select Board, the town’s elected policy board, as its Chief Administrative Officer.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Dalton has been governed under a Select Board and Town Manager form since 1995, when the Legislature enacted the town’s Town Manager Act, Chapter 137 of the Acts of that year. The act divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that vote.
- The Select Board is the elected policy board. It hires and directs the Town Manager, appoints residents to many town boards and committees, and signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs the town’s day to day operations: the departments and their heads, the preparation of the budget, purchasing and personnel, all under the board’s policy direction.
One government this charter does not touch sits right beside it. The town’s water supply, its Fire Department and its ambulance belong to the Dalton Fire District, a separate special-purpose government with its own elected Board of Water Commissioners, its own tax, and its own annual meeting. When you pay a water bill or call for the ambulance, you are dealing with that second government, not with Town Hall.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 462 Main Street, Dalton, MA 01226. Main line 413-684-6111.
- Town Manager’s Office: 413-684-6111 ext. 201, or email EAnderson@dalton-ma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 413-684-6115. Water and the ambulance are the separate Dalton Fire District’s.
- Show up: the Select Board generally meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month at the Dalton Senior Center, and the public is welcome.
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