Westfield Board of Assessors Diane M. Hildreth, left, and chairman Grace E. Sullivan, review a set of questions that will be used during an interview process for the hiring of a new Westfield Chief Assessor. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The Board of Assessors is planning to interview four candidates vying for the position of Chief Assessor, a department head post in the Assessors Department, next week.
The Board met last night with Assistant Personnel Director Jeff Krok to discuss the interview and appointment process.
Krok said that the city received nine applications for the post, and that he and Brian Pearly of the Law Department reviewed the application submissions “to determine if the applicants met the minimum standards” of the posted job description.
Krok said the screening was to determine “could this person walk in and do the job, if they were selected?”
The review committee selected four of the candidates for initial interviews.
“We like all of them. They have different strengths and weaknesses. You have a variety of people to consider,” Krok said.
The four finalists who will be interviewed by the Board of Assessors are; Barbara F. Miller, a resident of Westfield who is currently the Director of Assessing for the Town of Montague; Michael J. Britton, a resident of Mill River who is the Director of Assessing in Dalton; Robin E. Whitney, a resident of Westfield who is currently the city’s Acting Chief Assessor; and Elizabeth A. Duffy of Belchertown, who is currently the Principal Assessor in Monroe, Conn.
Krok said that information given by candidates during the review committee interviews “is exempt from the (open meeting law) disclosure” but that the candidates “resumes are subject to disclosure” when turned over to the Board of Assessors.
The review committee conducted 45-munute interviews with the four finalists and provided the list of questions asked during that screening interview. However, the answers given by the candidates were not provided to the board members, nor were the candidates ranked by the review committee.
“I did inform all of the applicants that the next step will be interviews before the board and that those interviews will be conducted in open session,” Krok said.
Krok discussed the process of formulating questions for that appointment interview with Diane M. Hildreth and Chairwoman Grace E. Sullivan. The third board member, Suzanne M. Bergeron, was not present during the meeting last night.
Hildreth and Sullivan, who were both appointed to the Board of Assessors during the tenure of Mayor George A. Varelas, have appointed four Chief Assessors during their time on the board and both said that longevity of the next Chief Assessor is a key issue in this appointment.
The appointment will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of James M. Pettengill in October. Pettengill served in that post for 10 years and prior to his appointment in Westfield, held the same post in Southwick.
The board is also seeking to hire a candidate with experience in assessing the value of commercial property, a task currently being performed by a consultant for the city.
The board will conduct the interview process with the four final candidates in City Hall on Friday, Dec. 7. The board plans to begin the interviews at 9 a.m. and has allocated an hour for each interview.
