The three finalists seeking to succeed Kate Fitzpatrick and become the second town manager in Needham’s history participated in their final interviews in an open session at the March 25 Select Board meeting.
Two of the candidates were well known to the Select Board, which is the hiring authority for the position and is expected to vote its decision at its next meeting on April 1. Deputy Town Manager Katie King and Department of Public Works Director Carys Lustig were in familiar territory while the third finalist, Benjamin Branyan, is currently chief financial and administrative officer for the Greenwich Public Schools in Connecticut.
King, Lustig and Branyan emerged from a search process that was organized after Fitzpatrick announced in October that she intended to retire by early July after having served since 2005.
A seven-member search committee was formed. It included two Select Board members, Chair Kevin Keane and Vice Chair Heidi Frail. They were joined by School Committee Vice Chair Michael O’Brien, Finance Committee Chair Carol Fachetti, Planning Board member Paul Alpert, Human Resources Advisory Committee Chair Rita Vogel and Town Meeting member Anna Giraldo-Kerr.
The town also engaged a consulting firm, Community Paradigm Associates, to administer the search process.
The committee received 14 applications. They chose to interview five candidates, all on the same day, and voted to advance Branyan, King and Lustig for final interviews.
Each finalist spent between 40 and 45 minutes engaging in a wide-ranging discussion with the Select Board. All were asked to describe their management style, fiscal views and their employee relations philosophies. The interviews also examined their experience handling town management staples such as collective bargaining, capital planning, land use planning, approaches to housing and community relations.
Branyan was first up and explained that he had a personal and practical motivation for applying. “My wife got her dream job about six months ago in a suburb of Boston and I still like her and want to be near her.”
Branyan has worked since 2015 in Greenwich, an affluent community of nearly 65,000 considered a bedroom community to New York City. He spent nine years as its town administrator and chief operating officer, a position analogous to town manager. Last year he changed roles to become chief financial & administrative officer of Greenwich Public Schools, which has more than 8,600 students and a budget of about $200 million.
“I love local government. I think that’s where all the action’s at,” he said.
“My management style has always been servant leadership, and I know that means a lot of things to different people. To me it means I’m here to serve, both for the staff and the community.”
Branyan acknowledged he has much to learn about Needham and said, if hired, “My first three months or so will be a listening tour.” He added that Greenwich and Needham are more alike than different.
“The ZIP codes are different, the issues are very similar,” he said, noting that the governmental structures are similar in terms of the size and role of town meeting and the reliance on dozens of volunteer boards and subcommittees.
King, who has been deputy town manager since 2020, came next and emphasized her passion for public service. “I can’t think of a better job than to say we’re going to make sure people will respond to 911 calls, that we have clean water, that you get a flu shot and a free book. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t want this career.”
She described her management style as one of “a team builder.”
“I ask a lot of questions. I ask people for their help. I ask for their ideas. That’s a starting point for collaboration with the team.”
Prior to coming to Needham, King spent six years as director of the office of intergovernmental relations under Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, experience that she says helps her understand how to navigate the many levels of Massachusetts government on behalf of Needham concerns.
Asked what she saw as the town’s greatest challenges, she said, “How do we maintain trust in local government? That residents know where to plug in, how to plug in. And that they trust what we’re doing and how we come to decisions.”
Lustig was the final interviewee and, like King, she was able to offer multiple local examples of how she had demonstrated her abilities based on her 17-year tenure at the DPW.
A Needham native, Lustig started at the DPW in 2008 as a summer intern and methodically worked her way up to her current director position, which she assumed in 2020.
“This is a community I’ve really enjoyed working for. I have a lot of history and a lot of roots here,” she said. “It’s the type of town where I really enjoy working and would like to continue and, hopefully, providing more leadership in the community.”
Asked about her management style, Lustig said, “I’m a collaborative person. I really do believe in investing in the people who work for you as a strategy for getting good results for your organization.”
She referred often to her step-by-step ascension within the DPW, noting it gave her multiple perspectives on how the town works and an appreciation for historical ebbs and flows. She noted that DPW has an ambitious agenda which sometimes confronts fiscal constraints, but said she also understands the DPW’s place in the big picture.
“We sometimes get a little frustrated with being very conservative with our finances, but it has such a positive outcome in the end. We are really secure in a way that other communities aren’t.”
As for her view of the town’s challenges, she said, “The things that make me the most nervous from a community perspective is how do you get your workforce,” noting that it’s not only the town’s workforce development that is challenging but it’s also true for all employers in town.
“That’s a conversation that is starting to happen, but I do feel like it’s getting worse and worse as far as the cost of living becoming unachievable for a lot of people.”
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