CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Selectmen tabled a discussion on Tuesday about how to structure the treasurer and collector position after the debate nearly resulted in a board member's resignation.

 

The board was determining whether to approve increasing an executive assistant's hours to full time so she can be cross-trained in the collector's office. 

 

The treasurer/collector abruptly retired more than two weeks ago and the town hired an interim part-time treasurer; the current treasurer's assistant was elected town clerk last year and has been covering multiple duties. She will step away from the treasurer's office at the end of the fiscal year. 

 

The town needs to devise a short-term solution to fill the gap and cover cases of sickness and vacations, and determine the structure of treasurer/collector's office in the long term. 

 

"I think [cross training is] really important across the board, in the collector's office, in anticipation of the assistant treasurer collector not taking the position again July 1," Town Administrator Jennifer Morse said. "We would have somebody in the office who knew what they were doing and then that would allow us to create the job descriptions we need to create and to see what town meeting wants to do with the positions." 

 

One solution is to increase the executive assistant position to full-time hours because she is already working 19 hours. 

 

But that triggers all the benefits, including health insurance, Selectman Ronald DeAngelis said.