By Lynne Hendricks
AMESBURY — The push to get a regional public health director to work via a shared health services agreement between Amesbury and Salisbury is moving along ahead of an expected vote of the Municipal Council on Oct. 13.
But the final three candidates, who were screened from a pool of applicants and interviewed Monday by Kendra Amaral, Mayor Thatcher Kezer's chief of staff, won't likely be divulged for some time.
Ahead of the council's vote, the candidates' names and their qualifications will remain under wraps to protect their privacy, Amaral said.
"This is one of those things that since we're still in the initial stages, everyone who applied has some right to privacy on this," she said.
Not until the candidates become finalists will the information become public, Amaral said, though she indicated that finalists are typically chosen only after second interviews are held, and a second interview is a step she doesn't feel will be necessary in this situation.
Per the terms of the agreement, which was drafted following a failed attempt to include Newburyport in a three-community regional health program, Amesbury will be taking the lead by hiring the regional health director to oversee both communities' animal control services, inspections and public nurse services. Under the original three-community agreement, Newburyport was to take the lead, using current Health Agent Jack Morris as the director for all three communities.
There's been some speculation in the community over whether Morris, who stood to gain additional compensation if Newburyport had decided to join the regional program, would seek employment with the two communities to advance his compensation package. The pay scale listed for the position, which was advertised on Sept. 9 with an application deadline of Sept. 17, is $68,000 to $75,000, substantially more than the $65,626 Morris makes in Newburyport.
Kezer said the public will learn who the candidates are once Salisbury Town Manager Neil Harrington and Amaral name the finalists and recommend they be interviewed by him. While the state Open Meeting Law requires finalists for a government position be vetted in the public eye, Kezer said the three are not technically finalists.
"They're not finalists yet because the recommendation is going to come up to me for the final review," he said, refusing to clear up speculation from the community on who's applied for the job. When asked if Morris had applied, Kezer declined to answer.
"I will neither confirm nor deny any names in the mix," he said. "In any job, people are going to apply who have current jobs and obviously not want their bosses to find out, if they're not going to make it to the final stage."
The Municipal Council's Ordinance Committee has recommended the newly drafted regional agreement, and after the town's Finance Committee has a look at it this week, is expected to pass it on to the full council on Oct. 13. Under the agreement, which has already been approved by Salisbury's Board of Selectmen, the two communities will share the cost and personnel to deliver health inspections for local businesses, public health and animal control services per a 60/40 split, with Amesbury receiving the lion's share of the services.
Despite the decreased savings Amesbury was expected to enjoy under the three-town agreement, Kezer said the town still will be getting a better deal than it was when the town had its own inspection agent, animal control staff and public health nurse employed full time.
"The overall cost of the approach that we're taking is less than the way we've been doing it," Kezer said. "There may be individual line items that shift. It's still in the $80,000 to $100,000 range (in savings) a year from the way we were doing it last year."
