Belmont town manager leaving post

At Monday night’s meeting, the Board of Selectmen announced that Town Administrator Don McLelland would leave his position effective at the end of the summer.

Chairman Brain Watterson said that McLelland originally submitted his letter of resignation in mid-March and the chairman had been unable to change his mind in recent discussions. “I don’t want to accept this letter of resignation,” Watterson said at the meeting. “Being a town administrator is a horribly difficult position… Your work here has meant the world to me.”

Watterson said that McLelland had done an exemplary job during his five-plus years in the position.

Board member Ron Cormier, who was elected in March, also expressed regret about McLelland’s impending departure. “I’ve only been here for a little while, but you’ve been a real help to me,” he told him. “As a citizen of Belmont I think you’ve done an excellent job. We’ll miss your guidance.”

The third board member, Reggie Caldwell, was not present for the meeting.

McLelland said he wanted to leave before Labor Day, when the process of working on next year’s budget begins. “I thought that would be most fair to the new guy, and to the town,” he said.

Last week, McLelland hinted at his possible retirement from town responsibilities. “But I’m not going to quit working,” he said. “I’m probably going to do some municipal and business consulting work for a company that I own, DPM Associates. And I’ll probably offer to do some stuff for the town, if they want me to, on part-time basis for a short period of time... I have some other business interests in the fire right now.”

McLelland has expressed an interest recently in helping Belmont move forward with commercial development plans, including extending water and sewer service on Route 106 north of the village area.

He said he looked back with fondness on the camaraderie he shares with the other town employees. “You tend to forget the good things, but I think that having the cooperation of a great staff and the department heads has been great,” he said.

McLelland added that managing an annual budget that ended with a surplus every year was also rewarding, as was “keeping Belmont on a positive track. ”I’m proud of the fact that we’ve had no union grievances in five-and-a-half years,” he said. “And there were lot of problems with the Belmont Mill when I stepped in and we addressed those to make that building more functional.”

“When I look at other towns in our area, Belmont has progressed technically and informationally,” he said. “The town of Belmont is on a very positive path.”

McLelland said he hoped the selectmen had the opportunity to hire someone who’s familiar with that path.

At Monday’s meeting, Chairman Watterson said the board would post the opening for the town administrator’s job among the Town Hall staff Monday, April 4 until Friday, April 15. The board would review resumes at its Monday, April 18 meeting.

If no suitable candidate were found, the board then would post the opening to the general public.