New hires impress Salisbury town manager

SALISBURY — Town Manager Neil Harrington praised the work of two new municipal employees at the Board of Selectmen meeting Monday night.

The town recently filled two major vacancies after the departures of Department of Public Works Director Lisa DeMeo and Chief Water Operator Frank Giordano.

Former Newburyport Department of Public Services Deputy Director Jamie Tuccolo was hired as the new DPW director and former Chelsea water operator Shavaun Callahan is the town’s new chief water operator.

Harrington said the two began a week ago and praised how quickly they have been acclimating to their new roles, starting with Tuccolo.

“He served in Newburyport for 14 years and most recently was the acting director since last summer, and we are very excited to have him here,” the town manager said. “He has hit the ground running and brings a wealth of experience to the position and he’s rapidly getting up to speed on everything that needs to be done here, in particular preparing for the upcoming beach season.”

Harrington described Giordano’s departure as “sudden” considering the department is new. He then talked about Callahan.

“She is extremely well-qualified. She has all the proper licensing by DEP,” Harrington said. “She comes to us from Chelsea, from which she has many years of experience as the primary water operator, and she has responsibility and has filed all the necessary reports for Chelsea at DEP over the years, and she’s going to do a great job for us.”

Salisbury only took over control of water maintenance and billing from Pennichuck a year ago, and Finance Director Karen Snow explained that she was monitoring the town’s water enterprise fund very carefully as she presented an update to selectmen.

“I’m projecting that right now if we account for salaries for the remainder of the fiscal year and a couple other expenses I’m aware of, we are at about 95 percent expended right now,” Snow said. “So I’m actually giving them weekly reports on their expenses so they can monitor it. They are not spending anything other than what they need.”

Snow said she has been communicating with Harrington and it is possible they will have to go to Town Meeting in May with an additional money request.

“It’s just so tight. I don’t know that we are going to be able to make it through the next three and a half months if there’s several water main breaks. Even if there’s one major water main break between now and then, we are probably going to go over budget in that fund,” Snow said.

Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.