Foxborough Selectmen to Discuss Town Manager’s Salary, Future in May

Foxborough’s Board of Selectmen delayed its review of Town Manager Kevin Paicos’ salary until the May 7th meeting because all the members were not on the “same page” at least week’s meeting.

“I didn’t expect - and wasn’t prepared - to discuss [Paicos’ salary at the April 23rd meeting],” said Selectmen vice chair Mark Sullivan. “But it’s up to the board if they want to continue the conversation I can jump in but I didn’t expect to see this.”

While the other four members were prepared to discuss Paicos’ salary at the April 23rd meeting each said they had no issue with holding off on the review of the town manager’s salary until after Tuesday’s election.

“If the board would rather put it off I have no problem putting it off,” said selectman Ginny Coppola.

Said selectman Lynda Walsh: “I think if Mark’s not comfortable [holding the salary review on April 23rd] we all need to be on the same page.”

Paicos urged the board to hold his salary review before Tuesday’s election so the present board would be making the decision.

“There’s two problems [with waiting to review the salary],” Paicos said. “The reason to do this before the election is because we don’t know if all the board members will be returning or not. It puts someone in the position of having to vote on compensation, which is a follow-up to the review. The five of you have done a review because you know what my performance has been and the five of you should decide if a pay increase is merited or not. If you don’t do it [on April 23rd] you won’t be able to do it before the election occurs. If all five of the board members are back, fine. But if that were not to be the case that is going to put a new board member in an extraordinarily difficult position. Ginny was put in that position last year.”

Current Board of Selectmen chair James DeVellis said there are advantages to the board resuming Paicos’ salary review after May 1, regardless of the results from Tuesday’s election.

“If you look at [Paicos’] contract, there’s a May 1st date,” DeVellis said. “That’s when we had to have [Paicos’] evaluation done. The salary review says July 1st. We intentionally brought the review before the town election so our board can evaluate [Paicos].

“I think there is a benefit sometimes to looking at a salary review without the influence of having worked with that person for the year because you can look at the reviews from a different perspective.

“I’m not opposed to doing a salary review after May 1 but I certainly was opposed to doing a review after May 1.”

Paicos added if the board decides his performance merits a salary increase it would likely have an impact on the budget just prior to town meeting on May 13th.

“If the board decides no increase that’s fine but if [they] do decide on an increase then that’s got to get budgeted because my budget is way too thin to absorb anything,” Paicos said. “That’s the other reason [the board has] to decide in a timely manner.”

Despite Paicos’ urging to have his salary reviewed on April 23rd, the board chose to table the discussion for May 7th.

The town manager’s review began earlier this month with a self-evaluation from Paicos regarding his performance over the past year.

On April 16th, selectmen went through their own evaluation of the town manager, giving Paicos a “satisfactory” rating, concluding he “meets selectmen’s expectations.”

Paicos admitted he was “disappointed” with the board’s findings.

“I continue to be somewhat perplexed by what appears to be an ever-changing standard for my performance,” Paicos said. “My contract requires the board to look at the goals and objectives. I gave [them] a report on that. The vast majority of the comments [from the selectmen’s evaluation] has very little to do with the goals and objectives.”

Paicos told the board he made the same observation during last year’s review.  

“As I read the comments I frankly find very little that talks about those goals in each of the sections but I find a lot of subjective commentary, which it’s hard for an employee to accomplish what an employer wants when the employee doesn’t know what the employer wants.

The written goals is a statement by the board. I think the board continues to have some difficulty in evaluating my performance of the goals and instead enters subjective commentary. … I don’t know how to do these things better and other things I honestly don’t think are fair.”

Paicos received a score of 16 out of a possible 25 points in the category of financial management. While that score ranked among the highest of the eight categories rated, Paicos thought it should have been higher.

“I don’t know what your expectations are for employee health insurance,” Paicos said, pointing out the town has been exceptional in many areas of financial management.

“There doesn’t appear to be favorable recognition of those accomplishments,” Paicos said.

Selectmen used the following rating system to measure Paicos’ performance over eight categories:

• 1 – Unacceptable
• 2 – Requires improvement
• 3 – Satisfactory (meets selectmen’s expectations)
• 4 – Exceptional (exceeds selectmen’s expectations)
• 5 – Outstanding (substantially exceeds selectmen’s expectations)

Paicos’ overall score average was 2.9, or 3.0, which resulted in a satisfactory rating for his performance in FY13.

This is the third review of Paicos under his current four-year contract. Selectmen have until June 30th to decide whether or not to move into the fourth year of the town manager’s contract.

The salary review on May 7th will be the next step in the board’s process to determine whether or not it will extend Paicos’ contract. If selectmen choose not to renew Paicos’ contract, they will need to give the town manager one year’s written notice by June 30th.

“Board will meet to discuss if this is something it wants to do and extend Kevin’s contract for another duration,” DeVellis said. “If we take no action it automatically gets extended.”

How Paicos Scored in Selectmen’s Review

Here’s a look at how the board scored Paicos in each of the eight categories:

1. Supervision (Score: 13/25)

2. Leadership (Score: 15.5/25)

• “Kevin has demonstrated innovative thinking,” selectman Lorraine Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Strong negotiator. Highly effective leadership during times of crisis.”

3. Execution of policy (Score: 15/25)

4. Community relations (Score: 14/25)

• “Has made himself available,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Outreach to community was excellent during storms.”

5. Economic development (Score: 15/25)

• “Kevin has worked positively on issues such as sewer, billboards and communicating with the Kraft organizations,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Successfully worked with TIF team.”

6. Alignment with the Board of Selectmen (Score: 11/25)

• “Time, communication and addressing various opinions on the board is satisfactory,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Can improve in this area by taking more time to learn about the issues. Pre-meeting packets should include full information so Board of Selectmen is prepared for discussion.”

7. Financial management (Score: 16/25)

• “Driving factor in performance,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Projects are well done and performance was outstanding. Improvements in monthly financial reports would be helpful.”

8. Execution of tasks (Score: 16/25)

• “Paicos is busy and should work to delegate certain tasks in order to be more responsive to requests from the Board of Selectmen,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Overall, met the satisfaction of the board.”

Paicos’ Finest Accomplishments

Selectmen reported the following accomplishments were among Paicos’ best in FY13:

“Working with finance department to bring balanced budgets during times of financial instability for third year in a row,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Understanding importance of Invensys TIF request and working towards a settlement. Important communication during storm and power outage disaster. Significantly reduced health care costs. Developed finance program for IMA. Strong negotiating skills.”

Three strongest points:

1. Ability to juggle numerous tasks
2. Financial management/innovation
3. Strong negotiator with unions and businesses.

Improvement Needed

Selectmen underlined the following three areas Paicos can improve on:

“Work towards a better understanding of Foxborough’s sense of community, history of topics and acknowledgment of local efforts,” Brue reported on behalf of the selectmen. “Consolidating presentations and assuring consistently details and accurate information is presented to all boards, committees and the public. Continue to improve visibility of Town Hall.”