WESTFIELD – After announcing late last year that he would not be running for another term in 2015, current Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said Friday that he is one of three finalists for the town administrator position in the eastern Mass. town of Walpole.
He is slated to be interviewed by the town’s Board of Selectmen at their next meeting on Wednesday night.
“Throughout much of 2014, I thought about the future and as much as being mayor is a great job, it is not a career path,” said Knapik. “For a number of years, I’d gotten to know a number of town administrators and those kinds of jobs intrigue me.”
Knapik said that he heard of the position from Michael Boynton, a Knapik associate during their days at Fairfield University who served as town administrator for 13 years until July 2014.
Walpole, in Norfolk County, sits a short drive southwest of Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood.
According to Knapik, the town also has a provision in their charter which requires town officials to live within 15 miles of the town and when asked how his wife Tricia and their children will feel about packing up and heading east, Knapik, a lifelong Westfield resident, said he and his family look at it as an opportunity.
“I’ve probably got 13 to 15 years left in my working career and it is time to make decisions that set me up for the next chapter in life,” he said.
Knapik said that the pay for town administrator positions vary by municipality.
“Typically, the towns post a salary range. In Walpole it was $130,000 to $160,000,” he said. “These tend to be good paying jobs. They come with benefits and it is all negotiable, much like negotiating with the superintendent of schools.”
Knapik said that he has a brother who lives in Medway, which borders Walpole, and his wife also has family in the area.
“It would be interesting to be about 13 miles from Boston and closer to Cape Cod, where we like to spend some time,” he said. “We’re not at the finish line, but it’s one of those things where we’ll take it a day at a time and if I happen to be selected, we’ll go from there and make those decisions.”
