Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Joseph J. Domelowicz Jr.
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Joseph J. Domelowicz Jr. is Hamilton’s Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and he serves at their pleasure. The office he holds is not quite the Town Administrator that many Massachusetts towns have, and the difference is written into a special act the Legislature passed for Hamilton alone: Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2009, An Act Establishing a Town Manager in the Town of Hamilton. Under that act the Select Board appoints the Town Manager for an indefinite term, chosen on the strength of his executive and administrative qualifications, and the manager becomes the town’s chief administrative officer. The act gives him the authority to appoint and remove the department heads, officers and employees who work under the Select Board, with the board confirming those choices, and it makes him responsible for the town’s day to day operations, its personnel, its purchasing and the building of its budget. What the act does not touch is the legislative power: the operating budget he prepares still has to be voted, line by line, by the registered voters at Town Meeting, and the Town Clerk who runs the elections is still chosen by those voters, not by him. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts on his desk, then goes to the board that hired him, and then to the room where every registered voter can vote it up or down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board and serving at its pleasure, not elected |
| Office | Town Offices at Patton Homestead, 650 Asbury Street, Hamilton, MA 01936 |
| Phone | 978-626-5202 |
| Website | hamiltonma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2009 gives the Town Manager the authority to appoint and remove the department heads, officers and employees who serve under the Select Board, with the board confirming those appointments. That hiring power is what a Town Administrator in many Massachusetts towns does not hold, and it is why the office is called Manager here.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Manager prepares and submits the operating budget for the departments under his charge, manages the town’s purchasing and contracts, and carries out the financial policies the Select Board sets. The finished budget then goes to Town Meeting for the vote.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager is the agent of the Select Board, works under its policy direction, and serves at its pleasure.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. Because the manager builds the budget but cannot adopt it, the registered voters at Town Meeting are the ones who decide his spending plan. If you are registered, you can be the one asking the questions from the floor.
What the Act Splits Between Them
Hamilton has been governed under a Select Board and Town Manager form since the Legislature passed Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2009, a special act written for this town alone. 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 policy making board. It appoints the Town Manager, confirms his department appointments, sets the town’s policy direction, and signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs everything the act places under him: the departments and their heads, the town’s operations, the purchasing, the personnel policies and the day to day administration, all under the board’s policy direction.
The line between the two is deliberately drawn. The board decides what the town should do; the manager it hires carries it out and answers for how it went. And above both of them sits Town Meeting, where the registered voters keep the final say over the money.
Contact & Engage
- Town Offices: Patton Homestead, 650 Asbury Street, P.O. Box 429, Hamilton, MA 01936, while Town Hall is under renovation.
- Town Manager’s Office: 978-626-5202.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 978-626-5227.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on its published calendar at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.