Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Terry Walker
Peru is a town of about 800 people, and it does not hire a full-time manager to run itself. The elected Select Board is the town’s executive, and it appoints a part-time Town Administrator, Terry Walker, to carry the daily administration between meetings. The office keeps regular hours at Town Hall, and the work is the connective tissue of a small town government: preparing the annual budget for the board and the Finance Committee, handling correspondence and contracts, posting the meeting agendas, and making sure the votes Town Meeting passes actually get carried out. When a resident brings a problem to Town Hall, this is often the first desk it reaches, and the administrator routes it to the board or the department that owns it.
The administrator is appointed by the Select Board and answers to it, which is the difference between this office and an elected one: the board can hire and replace the administrator, and the administrator carries out the policy the elected board sets rather than making it. The real decisions in Peru still belong to two rooms the voters control directly, the Select Board and Town Meeting, and the administrator’s job is to make those decisions run day to day. That design keeps a very small town’s government both professional and accountable: professional because someone is minding the paperwork every week, and accountable because the people doing the deciding all stood for election.
| Role | Town Administrator (appointed staff officer to the Select Board) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 3 East Main Road, Suite #100, Peru, MA 01235 |
| Phone | (413) 655-8312 Ext. 100 |
| Website | townofperuma.com |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Prepares the budget. Each year the administrator helps assemble the town’s spending plan for the Select Board and the Finance Committee, and it is Town Meeting that holds the final vote.
- Runs the daily administration. Contracts, correspondence, grant paperwork, and the posting of meeting agendas all run through the office.
- 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 Peru that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- The Select Board is the town’s executive: it sets policy, appoints residents to boards, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Department heads carry out the daily work of the town, from plowing the roads to inspecting for public health, and report through the town’s officials.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 3 East Main Road, Peru, MA 01235.
- Town Administrator’s Office: (413) 655-8312 Ext. 100.
- Report a problem: potholes, downed trees, and plowing go to the Highway Department at (413) 655-8224.
- Show up: the Select Board meets Mondays at 6:00 PM 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.