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Clarksburg Splitting Administrative Assistant Position
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
12:48AM / Wednesday, March 04, 2020
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CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Town officials see the retirement of longtime Administrative Assistant Debra Choquette as an opportunity to split her position back to two positions.
 
Choquette's retirement on May 4 after more than 30 years working for the town was announced in early February. The Select Board is hoping to get her post filled before she leaves. 
 
"I'd like to see the position stay 32 hours," Select Board Chairman Ronald Boucher said at last week's meeting. "I'd like to hear everybody's input on it, because I think we have some time. I don't want to rush into something a little time, but we don't have a lot of time."
 
The board was initially split on the concept of hiring two people to cover Choquette's 32 hours but Town Administrator Rebecca Stone recommended posting two separate positions — one for administrative assistant and the second for an assessor's clerk. She estimated the savings at between $7,000 and $19,000 a year.
 
"I think the administrative assistant position here is very important," said Boucher. "More so here, because you've got to get someone that can really multitask. ...
 
"What are we going to get for 19 1/2 hours with no benefits?"
 
The board members thought they could get someone who was experienced but retired or possibly the posts would attract someone younger who needed a few hours a week. There was a concern either way that a retired person might tire of the job and a younger one might leave for better hours. But they agreed they needed someone who was able to put a lot of intiative into the administrative post. 
 
"We're small, we have less people so I think if you can find someone that can really do a little bit more, that's huge," Boucher said. "I think once you give away hours, it's hard to get them back."
 
Select Board member Jeffrey Levanos disagreed. "I think that 32 hours is a lot of hours for the job that's getting done," he said. "I think that job can be done in less hours."
 
The administrative assistant had been merged with the assessor's clerk to create one position some years ago. Stone said Town Assessor Ross Vivori told her he needed at least 12 hours a week (three days at four hours) for an assistant to keep up with the property cards and other duties.
 
Stone also thought some of the multitasking the assistant had taken on wasn't necessarily needed because those duties had shifted over from other departments.
 
"I've gone through and marked up the entire job description for the administrative assistant," she said. "A lot of the things the assistant is doing need to be backed out, or have already gotten backed out to other departments." 
 
She added she's been supported in past jobs by assistants at 20 hours. "I don't have very much support from that position right now," Stone told the board. 
 
"My feeling is if we put the two ads out there we're not going to get the qualified candidates and it's going to take us longer to get somebody in here," said Select Board member Danielle Luchi, advocating for one position but also for reviewing the number of hours. 
 
But Stone said if the board really wanted to provide her with support, they needed to hire someone for 19 1/2 hours as an administrative assistant. 
 
Right now the administrative assistant is the first person people see when they walk in and while that's nice, she can't get things done if she's constantly being interrupted, Stone said. Plus, there's different skills needed for the assessor's clerk and the administrative assistant.
 
"To the combine the two, you'll get bits and pieces," she said. "Maybe you'll get lucky and you get someone that has the assessor's experience and then the other things can come in as they go."
 
Board members thought it would be helpful to go back to having a particular day of the week when town officers would be available to speak with residents and answer questions. But they were still undecided on splitting the post. 
 
"You hired her to come in and help the town," said Finance Committee member James Stakenas. "She's given deep thought on getting the right components of people so that she's not interrupted upstairs and she's got people to cover downstairs with two different skill sets at a cost savings to the town in her first year."
 
Everybody gets a chance to be right, he continued, because they can support their town administrator but if it doesn't pan out, they can switch back to full time. 
 
"I really want to stand behind what I'm proposing," said Stone. "If I didn't think this would work, I wouldn't propose it."
 
That convinced the board enough to give Stone's request a try, voting 3-0 to post the positions separately. Levanos requested that Stone email the board members the advertisements for review before posting them.
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