The Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Administrator’s Office

Antonio Barletta

When a road goes unplowed after a nor’easter, or a permit for a new house stalls, or the harbor needs dredging, the person with the most day to day control over the response is appointed, not elected. Antonio Barletta is the Town Administrator, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board to run Manchester-by-the-Sea day to day, and the board can let him go if it loses confidence in him. That is the deliberate design of this form of government. The voters keep the big decisions for themselves at Town Meeting and the ballot box, the Select Board sets policy between meetings, and a professional administrator handles the machinery in between.

As chief administrative officer, the Town Administrator carries out three jobs that touch almost everything the town does. He appoints and supervises most department heads, from public works to health to recreation, so the people who plow the streets and inspect the restaurants answer up through him. He builds the annual budget, deciding what to propose for both the town and its share of the regional schools, then defends that plan in front of the Select Board and, finally, in front of Town Meeting, where every registered voter in the room holds the deciding vote. And he manages the daily operations of the town, from contracts to personnel to the grant applications that pay for capital projects.

What the office does not have is the last word. The Town Administrator cannot pass a bylaw, cannot set the tax rate, and cannot approve major spending on his own. Those powers belong to Town Meeting, and the Select Board is the check that hires him, evaluates him, and signs the warrants that decide what reaches the floor. Because Manchester-by-the-Sea hands the daily work to an appointed administrator, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses his desk first, then goes to the board, and then to the voters.