Town Leadership
The Sutton Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Austin Cyganiewicz
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Austin Cyganiewicz is Sutton’s Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board on a unanimous vote in the spring of 2025 after serving as the town administrator in nearby Rutland. The office is not the same as the Town Administrator most Massachusetts towns have, and the difference is written into Sutton’s own charter, Chapter 147 of the Acts of 2018. Section 4-2 makes the Town Manager the chief administrative official of the town, responsible to the Select Board, and gives the manager the appointment of the town officials for whom the charter sets no other way of choosing. Those appointments carry a check: a manager’s pick takes effect on the fifteenth day after it is filed with the Select Board unless the board votes it down by a majority within that window. The manager also builds the annual operating budget, a five year capital plan and the town’s staffing plan. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts here, then goes to the board, and then to the room where every registered voter can vote it down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative official) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board, which fixes the term and compensation; not elected |
| Office | Sutton Town Hall, Sutton, MA 01590 |
| Website | suttonma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the town’s officials. Charter section 4-2 gives the Town Manager the appointment of the officials for whom the charter provides no other method of selection, and the hiring of town employees other than library, school and seasonal recreation staff. Each appointment is filed with the Select Board and takes effect after fifteen days unless the board rejects it by a majority vote. This is the appointing power a Town Administrator in most Massachusetts towns does not hold, and it is why the office is called Manager here.
- Builds the budget. Under Article 6 the Town Manager prepares and presents the annual operating budget, a five year capital outlay program and the town’s staffing plan, and maintains the town’s full financial records.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager is the chief administrative official, works under the Select Board’s policy direction, and is reviewed in writing by each board member every year.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. Charter section 4-2 requires the Town Manager to attend the sessions of Town Meeting and to answer voters’ questions about the warrant articles the office is responsible for. If you are registered, you can be the one asking.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Sutton has been governed under a Select Board and Town Manager form set out in its charter, Chapter 147 of the Acts of 2018. The charter 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 is the chief policy making board. It appoints the Town Manager, fixes the manager’s term and pay, and signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter assigns to the office: the town’s departments and the officials who lead them, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel policies and the labor contracts, and with the board’s involvement the manager may reorganize a town agency under Article 5.
Put simply, three hands share the work in Sutton. The elected Select Board sets the policy, the appointed Town Manager carries it out day to day, and the budget itself belongs to the voters at Town Meeting. Knowing which hand holds your question is how you get it answered fast.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: Sutton, MA 01590. The Town Manager’s Office and the department directory are on the town website, suttonma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works, listed with the other departments on the town’s own website.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on Tuesday evenings at Town Hall on a published calendar, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.