Blandford Select Board Advances Candidate for Assistant Treasurer-Collector Role

BLANDFORD -- February 13, 2023, Blandford Select Board votes to negotiate with a Pelham treasurer-collector to fill a new assistant role. Meeting with only two of three members present on February 13, Chair TJ Cousineau and member Dennis Allen interviewed two candidates for assistant treasurer-collector, a position designed to back up and eventually succeed current Treasurer-Collector Sarah Hunter, before voting to open negotiations with Lynn Kane, a five-year treasurer-collector in Pelham who also lives in Blandford. The offer is for 24 hours per week, with hours subject to expansion if Kane moves into the full role, which the board is targeting to fill by the start of fiscal year 2024. Town Administrator Christopher also flagged that a new electrical engineering report estimates bringing the town hall generator up to emergency-facility code at roughly $160,000, well above the $42,000 currently reserved, and said he will pursue MEMA grant funding to close the gap.