A
screening committee shall consist of nine persons who shall be chosen
as follows: the board of selectmen, the school committee, the board
of assessors, the finance committee and the personnel board shall
each designate one person, and four persons shall be chosen by the
town moderator, at least one of whom shall have been a member of the
charter commission. Persons chosen by said agencies may, but need
not, be members of the agency by which they are designated: appointments
made by the town moderator shall be made last in time in order that
in making appointments the moderator may, insofar as it may be feasible
so to do, appoint persons who will broaden the membership base of
the committee to be most representative of the demographic and occupational
base of the town.
Not later than the third Thursday in May, in the year in which
the charter is adopted, the town clerk shall call and convene a meeting
of the several persons chosen as aforesaid who shall meet to organize
and to plan a process to advertise the vacancy and to solicit by other
means qualified candidates for the office. The committee shall proceed
notwithstanding the failure of any town agency to designate its representatives.
The screening committee shall review all applications that are
received by it, screen all such applicants it intends to advance by
checking and verifying work records and other credentials, and provide
for interviews to be conducted with such number of candidates as it
deems to be necessary, desirable or expedient.
Not more than one hundred and fifty days following the date
on which the committee meets to organize, the committee shall submit
to the board of selectmen the names of not less than three nor more
than five persons whom it believes to be best suited to perform the
duties of the office of town manager.
Within thirty days following the date the list of nominees is
submitted to it the board of selectmen shall choose one of the said
nominees to serve as town manager. In the event the board of selectmen
shall fail to make an appointment within the said thirty days the
screening committee shall, forthwith, appoint the town manager.
Upon the appointment of a town manager the committee established
hereunder shall be considered discharged.
Until such time as some other provision is made, by by-law,
for another screening committee, a committee as above shall be established
whenever the office of town manager shall become vacant, provided,
however, that in the third paragraph the phrase "thirty days following
the date of such vacancy, or pending vacancy, becomes known," shall
be substituted for the phrase "the third Thursday in May," and the
provision requiring a former member of the charter commission to serve
shall be void.