Danvers Selectmen Give Town Manager Marquis High Marks Again

Fiscal 2013 was yet another "Commendable" year for Danvers Town Manager Wayne Marquis.

The Board of Selectmen evaluate Marquis' performance each year in 10 subject areas, including financial and personnel management as well as how he handled certain projects during the year (FY 2013 ended June 30), and cumulatively give him a score from 1 (unacceptable) to 5 (outstanding).

Selectmen revealed Tuesday they gave Marquis, who is in 34th year as the town manager, another 4 or "Commendable" rating.

"Once again the town manager, through his direct leadership, as well as the actions of his management team, has proven to be a steady hand at the tiller of the financial health, services and future growth of Danvers," wrote Selectmen Chair Gardner Trask.

"Having lived in communities with city government, I have come to appreciate the ability of a non-elected town manager to look past the horizon of the next election for sound long-term planning," Trask said.

Historically, the board has given Marquis high marks and praise to keep up the good work, although there are at times specific directives from the board. Last year Marquis received a 4.1 out of 5 while board members urged him to rein in overtime costs for public safety employees.

A number of subjects were discussed Tuesday as well, including public safety overtime, pursuing a multi-use zoning overlay district for the downtown, forming a succession plan for many of the town's senior managers who are likely approaching retirement in the next five years and improving outreach and service to residents who are looking to obtain permits or other information.

Selectman Bill Clark said he's discussed the issue of overtime with Police Chief Neil Ouellette and Marquis and is confident it's moving in the right direction, but still has a ways to go.

Marquis noted there were no extra budget appropriations sought this past year for overtime and it's a lengthy process to bring on new officers to the department to fill vacancies.

New recruits have to complete the 25-week police academy before reporting for duty and then spend another eight weeks training on the job. He added that overtime is also often used due to long-term injuries in both the police and fire departments.

Marquis only received a "Quality Performance" rating in that area as well as two others -- actively promoting economic development initiatives for the downtown and pursuing options to modernize the public safety dispatch system.

Clark said he felt the town "dropped the ball" in this area after making zoning changes to the Danversport neighborhood -- he wants to see renewed talks on a downtown overlay district that would allow certain uses, such as residential apartments over a storefront, by right rather than through special permits.

He said there's a lot of potential for further growth. "Downtown is becoming, in some ways, kind of stale," he said.The discussion then turned into whether the board had ever communicated to Marquis the issue was a high priority after Selectwoman Diane Langlais questioned the appropriateness of the lower marks. The end result was the board agreed the overlay district should be addressed on the heels of a similar zoning change in Tapleyville that will go before a special Town Meeting early next year.

The town is actually in the early planning stages of adding a new dispatch center at the police station, but Clark noted he had to read about that in a local newspaper first -- he didn't receive any information from Marquis about it.

One issue that saw some criticism from Trask was community outreach -- he said the town could do more to help homeowners navigate and understand the oftentimes myriad of approvals and permits they might need to make a change to their property.

Trask also said he's received complaints on this and has personally had phone messages or emails go unreturned and otherwise had to "chase down answers" from town employees at times.

Selectman Dan Bennett also gave lower marks for overtime and public safety communications and noted he was disappointed at the turnover in key town employees, particularly former Danvers Electric Director Coleen O'Brien.

Marquis said she served in that role for 15 years and the market for that job had greatly changed in that time -- taking over the regional light department in Reading was also a big career step for her.

Selectmen admitted some of the subject areas were "pet peeves" of theirs, such as longstanding water resource issues caused by federal regulations -- the town is prevented from drawing on its plentiful water reserves during the summer and has to comply instead with seasonal restrictions in place because Danvers is in the Ipswich River Watershed.

Selectman Dave Mills said his main concern is the attitude, at times, of town employees when fielding calls from residents, specifically receptionists and police officers treating callers as nuisances rather than the people who pay their salaries.

"I don't believe our employees put their best foot forward at times with public service," Mills said, adding the proper attitude should be a smile and a handshake with an eye on stellar customer service.

He also doesn't want to see police officers talking on their cell phones while they're supposed to be on duty monitoring traffic at a construction scene.

"The officer appears disrespectful and inattentive. It is especially frustrating for taxpayers who are out of work, behind in their mortgages and often feeling cheated by their employees," he said.

"I appreciate the frankness…that we’re able to sit here and discuss issues that aren’t simply black and white," Marquis told the board. He added that his success is really due to both the political leadership in town, his senior management team and the work of town employees.

"We are not perfect, but there is a concept of management referred to as continuous improvement... We may take a step backwards at time or sideways, but hopefully we are moving the ship forward," Marquis said.

Langlais and Mills did refrain from rating Marquis in several areas because they felt they didn't have adequate experience with Marquis on certain topics since being elected to the board in May.