By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — A succession plan for two senior members of the Town Hall administrative team continues to be an active topic of discussion by the Town Council.
Town Accountant Kevin Gill has said that he plans to retire no later than June 2026. Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio’s current contract expires at the same time and it has been speculated that he may also retire.
Last spring, $100,000 was added to the Town Council budget to fund what was described as a “succession plan” for the Town Administrator and Town Accountant positions. The money would be used to move current Town Accountant Kevin Gill into a CFO/Assistant Town Administrator position and, at the same time, create an Assistant Town Accountant position, who would be a kind of understudy, ready to take over when Gill retires.
Maio told the Town Council this week that he has advertised for the Town Accountant position and has received about 15 applications. Maio said that the goal is to hire someone who can grow into that position while learning from Gill.
But several Town Councilors wondered how the plan addresses succession for Maio’s Town Administrator position.
Councilor Douglas Butler noted the possibility that both Maio and Gill may retire at the same time.
“That doesn’t seem like great succession planning to me,” he said.
But Councilor Jonathan Chines called the plan “a first step to build redundancy and talent” that creates a needed position of Deputy Town Administrator.
“This is a great plan to address some of the needs we know we will have,” Chines said.
Town Councilor John Carney had a different take. He said it was premature for the board to be looking for someone to replace Maio. That should be a future board’s decision, he said.
Councilor Edward Dombroski said that he didn’t understand putting Gill into an Assistant Town Administrator position and questioned the need for such a position. He said that he could understand hiring someone to learn under Gill, although he thought the shadowing period was too long.
Dombroski also wondered how moving someone who is about to retire into the Assistant Town Administrator position accomplishes succession planning for Town Administrator.
“That’s not succession planning,” he said. “Why would we put someone in there with a defined expiration date?”
Chines said that having the right structure in place was as important as finding the right people for the jobs. He said that in his view having Gill’s role evolve into an Assistant Town Administrator position made sense from a structural standpoint.
“Then we’ll just have personnel decisions to make in the future,” he said.
