The Dedham Town Manager’s Office

Leon I. Goodwin III

When the plow misses your street, or a new school building question lands on your family’s ballot, the desk that work crosses first belongs to an appointed professional, not an elected official. Leon I. Goodwin III is Dedham’s Town Manager, hired and supervised by the five elected members of the Select Board, and they can let him go if they lose confidence in him. What does the office actually control? The departments, first. The Town Manager is the town’s chief administrative officer: he appoints most department heads, administers the town personnel system, and negotiates the contracts with the town’s employee unions, which is why a resident’s unanswered problem usually ends up in this office. His own page calls the Town Manager’s Office the main office of Town Hall, the place that points residents and businesses to the right department. The money, second. The Manager is also the town’s chief procurement officer, and each year he prepares and presents the town’s annual operating budget and its capital outlay program. The current cycle shows how that works: Goodwin presented his FY27 recommended budget to the Select Board on February 26, 2026, the Finance and Warrant Committee weighed it and recommended a plan with a 6.33 percent school increase and a 4.5 percent town increase, and the final vote belonged to Town Meeting in May. And the town’s licenses, third. The office handles the Select Board’s licensing work, from restaurants to liquor to outdoor dining, through the town’s online permitting portal. The office sits on the third floor of the Ames Building, with Assistant Town Manager Nancy Baker as its second chair. Here is the part worth remembering: the manager answers to the board, the board answers to you, and the money answers to Town Meeting. If you want something to change in Dedham, this office is where the plan gets drafted, but the yes still belongs to people you elect.