Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Marjorie McGinnis
When a road goes unplowed or a storm knocks a line down, the person with the most operational control over the response in Leverett is appointed, not elected. Marjorie McGinnis is the town’s Town Administrator, hired by the three elected members of the Select Board to run the town day to day, and they can let her go if they lose faith in her. She is the chief administrative officer: she oversees the town’s departments, shapes and presents the annual budget, and carries the town’s biggest spending requests to Town Meeting for the final vote. In Leverett the job carries a second title that few towns can offer, because Leverett owns its own utility: McGinnis is also the Manager of the Leverett Municipal Light Plant, the town-owned fiber-optic network that residents voted to build and pay for in 2012. She is appointed by the Select Board and serves under contract. Because Leverett hands the daily machinery to an appointed administrator, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses her desk first, then goes to the board and to Town Meeting.
| Role | Town Administrator and Municipal Light Plant Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 9 Montague Road, PO Box 300, Leverett, MA 01054 |
| Phone | (413) 548-9699 |
| townadministrator@leverett.ma.us | |
| Website | leverett.ma.us |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, highway, health, the library, and the rest answer up to the Town Administrator, who coordinates their work for the Select Board.
- 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.
- Runs the light plant. As Municipal Light Plant Manager she oversees the town-owned broadband network, a utility most towns pay a company to provide.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets, and reports major spending and bylaws to Town Meeting, where every registered voter who walks in can vote.
The Administration
- Department heads carry out policy day to day, from plowing snow to keeping the fiber network running.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can let go 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 public health.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 9 Montague Road, PO Box 300, Leverett, MA 01054.
- Town Administrator’s Office: (413) 548-9699, townadministrator@leverett.ma.us.
- Report a problem: washed-out roads, plowing, and downed lines go to the Highway Department at (413) 548-9400.
- Show up: the Select Board meets biweekly on Tuesday evenings at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
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