Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Gina Dario
When a winter storm buries a hill road or a permit stalls for a new house off Route 7, the person with the most day to day control over the town’s response is appointed, not elected. Gina Dario is the Town Administrator, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board to run Lanesborough from one week to the next, and the board can end that contract if it loses confidence. The administrator is the town’s chief administrative officer and chief procurement officer. In practice that means overseeing the daily operations of town government, advising the Select Board and carrying out the policies it sets, preparing the agenda for every Select Board meeting, working with each department to build the annual budget, and representing Lanesborough to the county, the state, and the federal government when grant money or a shared service is on the table.
The job is easiest to understand as the hinge between the part of the government you elect and the part that does the work. Voters elect the Select Board and set the broad direction at Town Meeting. The Select Board sets policy and decides what reaches the Town Meeting warrant. The administrator turns those decisions into a working town, hiring and supervising most department heads, tracking the budget through the year, and answering to the board that did the hiring. None of this carries a vote of its own: the administrator cannot pass a bylaw, raise a tax, or spend money Town Meeting has not appropriated. What the office holds instead is the first draft, the budget a department gets and the plan a project starts from. Because so much begins on this desk, the fastest way to move a town problem is often to reach the administrator’s office early, before it hardens into a formal warrant article. The administrator answers to the Select Board, and the Select Board answers to you.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 83 North Main Street, Lanesborough, MA 01237 |
| Phone | (413) 442-1167 |
| Website | lanesborough-ma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, public works, health, and the rest answer to the Town Administrator, who appoints most of their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Lanesborough that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads are appointed by the Town Administrator and carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can fire the Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 83 North Main Street, Lanesborough, MA 01237.
- Town Administrator’s Office: (413) 442-1167.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, and downed trees go to the Department of Public Works.
- 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.