Town Leadership
The Groton Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Mark Haddad
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most day-to-day control over the response is appointed, not elected. Mark Haddad is Groton’s Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and he has run the town’s daily operations for more than fifteen years. The office he holds is set out in Article 4 of Groton’s home-rule charter, the consolidated version the voters carried in 2022. It makes the Town Manager the chief administrator of the town, responsible to the Select Board, and it is a different office from the Town Administrator most Massachusetts towns keep, because more of the daily authority sits with the manager. He appoints and removes the town’s paid department heads, from public works to building to conservation, and every one of those appointments has to be confirmed by the Select Board within fifteen days, or it fails. He builds the annual operating budget and the five-year capital improvement plan, negotiates the town’s union contracts, and by charter he serves as the town’s own finance director. Two of the most important hires are not his to make alone: when the Police Chief, the Fire Chief or the Town Clerk seat opens, the charter has the manager screen the field and present at least two qualified candidates, and the Select Board makes the appointment. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts on his desk, goes to the board he answers to, and then, once it costs money, to the open Town Meeting where every registered voter can vote it up or down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrator of the town) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 173 Main Street, Groton, MA 01450 |
| Phone | 978-448-1111 |
| Website | grotonma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter Article 4 lets the Town Manager appoint and remove the town’s paid department heads and employees, but each appointment must be confirmed by the Select Board within fifteen days, and if the board does not act in that window the appointment is treated as rejected. It is a real check, and it is written into the charter on purpose.
- Screens the senior hires, but does not make them. When the Police Chief, Fire Chief or Town Clerk seat opens, the manager presents at least two qualified candidates and the Select Board chooses. Those three offices, plus Town Counsel and the manager’s own job, are the board’s appointments, not the manager’s.
- Builds the budget and runs the money. Each year the Town Manager prepares the operating budget and the five-year capital improvement plan, and by charter serves as the town’s finance director.
- Answers to the board, and to you. The manager is responsible to the Select Board and works under its policy direction. The board it answers to is elected by you, and the budget the manager builds is voted by the open Town Meeting you can walk into.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Groton governs itself under a home-rule charter, and the current consolidated version dates to 2022. It divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing 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 is the chief elective policy-making board. It appoints the Town Manager, Town Counsel, the Conservation Commission, the Board of Appeals and the Board of Registrars, it makes the final call on the Police Chief, Fire Chief and Town Clerk, and it signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs the daily work the charter gives the office: the departments and their heads, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel policies and the labor contracts.
Here is that relationship in one visible act. At the board’s reorganization on June 1, 2026, it was the Town Manager who called the meeting to order and opened the floor for nominations for Chair, and who stepped back the moment the board had chosen its own officers. The manager runs that one meeting until the board can run itself, and then the manager works for it.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 173 Main Street, Groton, MA 01450. Open Monday 8AM to 7PM, Tuesday through Thursday 8AM to 4PM, and Friday 8AM to 1PM.
- Town Manager’s Office: 978-448-1111.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 978-448-1162.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on Monday evenings at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
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