SOUTH HADLEY – The town of South Hadley will continue their search for a new town administrator after three of the four finalists in the search dropped out.

Bernie Lynch of the consulting firm Paradigm Associates LLC., who the town hired to conduct the search for candidates, explained that two of the four finalists had removed themselves from consideration prior to candidates being presented to the Selectboard on April 20. During the April 20 meeting Lynch presented the board with two candidates, Stuart Beckley and Alan Wolf.

Just one week later during the April 27 meeting, Lynch said another candidate had removed themselves from consideration for the job. Committee member Sarah Etleman thanked the Screening Committee who had selected the four candidates and their commitment to the process. She added that she didn’t “think it was fair” to the town, the board or the candidate to just interview one candidate.

“I really want to see a pool of candidates. Whether it’s two, three, four candidates, I think we deserve that and the town deserves it,” she said.

She said that she didn’t feel the need to rush into the process and they were fortunate to have a town administrator who didn’t have “two feet out the door.” She thanked current administrator, Mike Sullivan, for being willing to stay on and said that she was okay with continuing the process, but emphasized she didn’t feel the need to rush the process.

Member Andrea Miles said she felt similarly and that the board had been clear that they were looking forward to interviewing candidates. However, she said she didn’t know if it was in anyone’s best interest to wait several months to interview the remaining candidate, as they had promised they would. She said while Sullivan had offered to stay, she wanted “to respect his decision to retire” and that he deserved that.

Lynch said he agreed that it was important to have more than one candidate, he outlined the process and said he could potentially have more candidates to present in about eight weeks. Etelman said that she felt the board should go back to the job posting they had initially posted and revise it. Member Carol Constant agreed with Etelman and pointed out that they may get a new pool of candidates simply because there were new people looking for jobs.

Chair Jeff Cyr said he was concerned about extending the process. He said he felt that they reviewed the job description pretty extensively and he felt they shouldn’t delay the process any more than necessary out of respect for Sullivan’s decision to retire. Member Chris Geraghty also said he was concerned about delaying the process, especially when thinking about the current candidate who would advance as a finalist in the search.

After some discussion, the board voted unanimously to reopen the search for a new town administrator and they would continue to use a screening committee. The committee also decided that they would offer the members of the current Screening Committee an opportunity to serve on the committee again if they wanted to.

The Selectboard’s discussion regarding their next steps and concerns will take place at their next meeting on May 4.