EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Town Council met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 8 and began by swearing in Jeanne Quaglietti as the new town clerk after Thomas Florence’s retirement earlier this year.

The meeting started with Quaglietti’s appointment and she was sworn in by Attorney Larry Levine, a friend of Quaglietti and a former selectman.

Among the topics discussed at the meeting were changes to the verbiage of several documents, including the Community Paradigm Associates’ profile statement for the ongoing town manager search.

Council President Kathleen Hill explained the profile statement is “a combination of the profile of East Longmeadow as a community and an opportunity to apply for the ideal candidate.” She added that applications are open until Nov. 9 at 5 p.m.

Some of the changes to the profile statement included a salary for the position and the inclusion of potential renovations to East Longmeadow High School in the near future. Council member Thomas O’Connor recommended an annual salary of “plus or minus $135,000,” and the council unanimously approved the request.

Council member Ralph Page also requested to change the wording about the cost of renovating the high school to remove an estimate price and make it more clear that it isn’t an imminent project because the potential renovations are too far into the future. He said to change the wording to, “In a few years East Longmeadow will be responsible for a significant portion of the anticipated costs,” and the council approved the motion.

One of the larger topics of discussion at the meeting was approving a request to move Acting Town Manager Mary McNally up from 18 hours a week to 30 hours a week. Council Vice President Michael Kane said, “A lot of the issues in the town are time sensitive and it would be impossible for her to be able to fulfill those obligations in 18 hours a week.” He added that the initial suggestion for 18 hours came from the fact that McNally would be receiving benefits under Massachusetts law but she decided to waive them in order to move up past 20 hours per week.

Hill also said, “If we don’t add some hours here, I think our position is going to be self-defeating because we’re sliding and there are certain issues that bear time on tasks that can’t be relegated to 18 hours a week.” The council voted unanimously to approve the motion to increase McNally’s hours to 30 hours per week as the acting town manager.

As the meeting continued, the Screening Committee for the Town Manager position was discussed. The application deadline to join the Screening Committee ended on Oct. 7. Hill said that by that date they had 10 applicants for the committee. The council reiterated the process for interviewing potential town managers. Reminder Publishing previously reported on this process here: https://www.thereminder.com/localnews/eastlongmeadow/council-discusses-ideal-town-manger-candidate

Hill then put forward a motion to increase the members on the committee to seven as opposed to the previously proposed five, and the council passed the motion.

The council also approved a motion to change the recently appointed Elaine Grimaldi’s title from part time human resources consultant to part time human resources employee. McNally stated the change was only in the verbiage of the title. She explained that the position she hired Grimaldi for didn’t fit the IRS description for consultant and they needed to approve the change so she would be paid from the correct line item.

The meeting also included continued discussion of the proposed mixed-zoning district at 330 Chestnut St. However, the council wasn’t ready to make any recommendations yet. “We are working methodically through the draft, we had a two hour meeting on Monday and we’re gonna have another one in a couple weeks. So we’re working through it,” Council member Donald Anderson said.

The Town Council will meet again on Oct. 22.