Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge explore possibility of tri-town manager

With two chief executive retirements looming, three towns that are already working together through a shared services agreement – Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge – are asking the state to help them explore whether a single manager or administrator could serve all three communities.

Each town’s Select Board endorsed a letter from Lee Select Board Chair Patricia Carlino requesting technical assistance from the state’s Division of Local Services.

Carlino stressed that the towns are only taking a first step to explore the possibility of a tri-town manager. But with Stockbridge Town Administrator Jorja-Ann Marsden retiring in July and her Lee counterpart Robert Nason retiring after his contract expires in June 2017, the time is right to begin researching whether the concept is feasible.

“We all need the same services, but possibly we can’t all afford the same services on our own, so we’re just looking at different scenarios,” she said.

Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge each approved an agreement last October that serves as a framework for any collaboration and created the Tri-Town Review Committee, chaired by Carlino, which meets monthly to discuss ways the towns could share services and makes recommendations. Since then, Lee and Lenox began sharing a Buildings Department, effective Jan. 1.

Stockbridge Selectman Steve Shatz, who has been attending the Tri-Town Review Committee meetings, said that Ashby and Ashburnham previously piloted a shared town administrator for one year, from 2011 to 2012, with Ashby paying Ashburnham for the services of Town Administrator Doug Briggs. He also noted that Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge have the oldest shared services agreement in Massachusetts: the Tri-Town Health Department, which dates back to 1929.

A tri-town manager, however, would be uncharted territory in the Commonwealth.

“It’s pretty clear in the Berkshires that unless we do this, then none of our small towns are going to be able to afford the services that our citizens have become accustomed to receiving,” Shatz said, adding that other collaborations could be dependent on a shared administrator. For instance, the tri-town committee saw a presentation in March about a shared fire department that suggested a single town administrator would be necessary for it to be successful.

Lenox Board of Selectmen Chair Ed Lane said that with the population of the three towns totaling just around 13,000 people, “it’s hard for each one of those small towns to survive on their own.”