Town Clerk Haley Meczywor swears in Police Chief Troy Bacon.
ADAMS, Mass. — Troy Bacon was sworn in Tuesday morning on the front steps of Town Hall as the interim police chief of the Adams Police Department.
Bacon takes over for outgoing Chief Richard Tarsa as he retired after 36 years of service on the force.
Tarsa announced his intention to retire in January of this year and the town began a search process with the aim of hiring a permanent replacement upon his retirement. The town formed a search committee and received several applications but the process was temporarily halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the process resumed, the Board of Selectmen along with Town Administrator Jay Green felt hiring an interim until at least the beginning of the new year would be the most prudent course of action given the uncertainty caused by the global health pandemic.
Bacon has served for 20 years in the Frankfort, Ind., Police Department with the last eight of those as chief. Frankfort is a city of about 16,000 that serves as the seat of Clinton County in central Indiana. He was a unanimous choice of the Selectmen and was also endorsed by Green.
Town leaders lamented that because of current social distancing guidelines, a larger more formal ceremony could not be held to honor Tarsa as well as several other recently retired longtime members of the department. They said as soon as a safe and secure time can be found, they will make it happen.
There were still a dozen of Adams' finest on hand to honor the outgoing and recognize the incoming chief along with several representatives from every town department.
These included Fire Chief John Pansecchi, Department of Public Works head Robert Tober along with staff, Adams Ambulance Chief Michael Gleason, Head Forest Warden Richard Kleiner, as well as Town Hall staff. All masked and social distanced for the pared-down ceremony.
Bacon had applied for the permanent post when it was offered but said he's not focusing on that at the moment and just wants to get his bearings before he looks too far ahead.
"Right now it's really just getting my feet on the ground and learning a new process, new personalities and just working from there. It's important right now for me to get a sense of what's going on and how decisions are made," said Bacon. "I need to get out into the community and try to get a vibe. I think it's important for the chief to be out in the community. It's hard to make decisions as a chief and for the department if you don't know the community. Those are priorities for me right now."
Being that this is an interim position Bacon's family will not immediately be joining him in Adams but he said that would obviously change should he and Adams decide to make the relationship permanent.
"Right now they're back home given that this is interim status. As this progresses we could have other conversations potentially but it's the right move [right now]. It's up for discussion later," he said. "Right now the priority for me is to ensure the operational excellence of the department."
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Adams Starting Administrator Search in New Year
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — Town officials hope to start the search for a new town administrator by January.
Vice Chair Christine Hoyt said last week that she was preparing a request for quotes for consultants to aid in the search.
"The chairman did appoint me to put together a request for quotes to hire a consultant for our upcoming town administrator search," she said at Wednesday's meeting. "I've received a number of different RFQs from a number of communities who have just done this in the last year, and I'm just writing it up so that is tailored to the town of Adams."
She expected to have the document ready this week to distribute to the board in advance of the regular Nov. 20 meeting. The goal is to get it approved and posted by Nov. 22, and review any responses prior to the Dec. 18 meeting.
"Which would give us the opportunity to post the job for the town administrator in the month of January, which lines up with the MMA's Connect 351 conference," Hoyt said. "I think it would be to our best interest to have something in place in regard to a posting by that conference rolls around."
The Massachusetts Municipal Association's annual conference takes place on Jan. 23-25. Hundreds of elected officials and administrators attend the gathering.
Officials anticipate some time before getting a new administrator in place. Current administrator Jay Green, was selected as the new Lenox town manager, replacing Christopher Ketchen.
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