Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Brendan Sweeney
Brendan Sweeney runs Ipswich day to day, and no voter put him there. The Select Board did, in a public vote you can read: on May 20, 2026 the five members approved an employment agreement with him beginning May 26, 2026 and running three years to May 26, 2029. Thomas Younger had been serving as Interim Town Manager until that morning. That is the shape of the job. The charter calls the Town Manager the chief administrative officer, gives the Select Board the power to appoint one for a three year term, and lets the board reappoint or remove him.
What makes this a Manager town rather than an Administrator town is the appointing power, and Ipswich’s charter is unusually generous with it. Section 12(b) of the charter hands the Town Manager the appointment of the town accountant, the treasurer’s staff, an assessor, the police chief, the fire chief, the superintendent of public works, the emergency management director, the inspectors of buildings, wires, gas and plumbing, the veterans’ services director, the sealer of weights and measures, and the parking clerk. It goes further than most: the Town Clerk, the Board of Health, the Planning Board, the Board of Assessors, the Cemetery and Park Commissioners, the seven-member Recreation Committee and Town Counsel are all appointments of the Town Manager in Ipswich, and every one of them used to be elected or chosen some other way. He appoints them upon merit and fitness alone, and he can remove them, with five days’ written notice setting out the cause for anyone outside civil service.
He is also the town’s chief fiscal officer. Warrants for the payment of town funds, prepared by the Town Accountant, go to his desk, and his approval is sufficient authority for the Treasurer to pay. He acts as the town’s purchasing agent under Chapter 41, section 103 of the General Laws. He may reorganize, consolidate or abolish a department under his direction, or create a new one, and move the duties and the money with it. He may examine the affairs of any division under his control without notice, and he has access to all town books and papers.
What he does not hold is the vote. Town Meeting adopts the budget and the bylaws, and nothing in his authority reaches that. The Select Board sets the policy he works under, and it can remove him on a vote of the full board with no more than one member dissenting, after a written preliminary resolution and a public hearing if he asks for one. So the fastest route to a decision usually starts at this desk, 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, not elected |
| Term | May 26, 2026 to May 26, 2029 |
| Office | Town Hall, 25 Green Street, Ipswich, MA 01938 |
| Phone | 978-356-6609 |
| Website | ipswichma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter section 12(b) and section 11(c) give the Town Manager the appointment of the police chief, the fire chief, the superintendent of public works, the town accountant, an assessor, the emergency management director, the building, wiring, gas and plumbing inspectors and every other officer the charter does not assign elsewhere, on merit and fitness alone. In Ipswich that list also includes the Town Clerk, the Board of Health, the Planning Board and the Board of Assessors. None of those names appears on a ballot.
- Builds and pays the budget. The Town Manager is the town’s chief fiscal officer. The warrants that pay the town’s bills come to him for approval, and he acts as the town’s purchasing agent under Chapter 41, section 103 of the General Laws.
- Can reshape a department. Under section 11(b) he may reorganize, consolidate or abolish a department, board or office under his direction, create a new one, and transfer the duties and the appropriation with it.
- Answers to the board. He attends every regular meeting of the Select Board unless excused, keeps the board advised of the town’s needs, and reports on operations as often as the board asks.
- Publishes the annual town report, which the charter requires to include the warrants and the actions taken at every town meeting held since the last report. That is the record you can check him against.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
The Ipswich Town Charter has run this town on a Select Board and Town Manager form since the Legislature enacted it as Chapter 620 of the Acts of 1966 and the town accepted it by vote on March 13, 1967. It has been amended many times since, most recently by Chapter 71 of the Acts of 2025. 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 outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that.
- The Select Board appoints and may remove the Town Manager, the election officers, the registrars of voters, the Trust Fund Commissioners, the Town Accountant, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Electric Light Manager. It appoints the Treasurer and Collector under Chapter 251 of the Acts of 1963. It takes the leadership role in long term planning with the Finance Committee, the School Committee, the Planning Board and the manager.
- The Town Manager runs everything else the charter gives him: the departments and their heads, the payment warrants, the purchasing, the personnel, and the power to reorganize a department outright.
One more thing the charter settles, and it matters if you ever want the manager out. The Select Board can adopt a preliminary resolution to remove him only at a meeting of the full board and only if no more than one member dissents. The resolution has to be filed with the Town Clerk in writing, with the specific reasons set out in detail, at least thirty days before the removal takes effect. He may reply in writing and may demand a public hearing. That hearing is public because a charter says it must be.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 25 Green Street, Ipswich, MA 01938. Open Monday 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Friday 8:00 a.m. to noon.
- Town Manager’s Office: 978-356-6609.
- Report a problem: potholes, water, snow and trash go to the Department of Public Works at 978-356-6612. Power outages go to the town’s own Electric Light Department at 978-356-6635.
- Show up: the Select Board meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Monday in Room A at Town Hall, and Citizen Queries is the first item on the agenda.
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