CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Select Board has made another critical addition to its Town Hall team with the appointment of Rachelle Bleau as administrative assistant. 

 

Bleau has largely worked as a medical assistant and office manager in medical offices, most recently at Northern Berkshire Pediatrics. 

 

"I'm always up for a new challenge," the Stamford, Vt., resident told the board during her interview on Wednesday. "I've worked with my office during the hardest part of the pandemic and I feel like they're in a good spot right now. And I feel like I need to change for myself, because I could do the job walking into my sleep.  ...

 

"I'm used to working as a team member and also independently."

 

Bleau is the latest hire as town officials rebuild after a wave of departures. Over the past year or so, the town's had turnovers in the treasurer, accountant, town clerk, administrative assistant and the town administrator's posts. There was a period of several months late last year when the town administrator and assistant were vacant and the treasurer was a part-time interim. The resignations of two of three Select Board members exacerbated the problems as the Town Hall tried to catch up with its financial reporting.  

 

Clarksburg began to make progress with the re-election of Jeffery Levanos to the Select Board and rehiring of a former town administrator, Carl McKinney, in December. A former accountant, Donna Estes, was also hired and Marilyn Gomeau, retired North Adams city clerk, came on as town clerk.

 

Joining Bleau will be new Town Treasurer/Tax Collector Jodi Hollingsworth, who has been working part time in Clarksburg. Both women start on Feb. 28. 

 

Bleau said she was open to taking training to aid the assessors and cross-training with the treasurer, and has experience with a number of software applications. She wanted the board to know she was a hard worker and willing to fill in wherever she could. 

 

Levanos said he liked that she was looking to stay for a lengthy time and be involved in Town Hall operations. Chair Danielle Luchi noted that she was cognizant of the need for confidentiality in some aspects of the job and her experience in managing a fast-paced office. 

 

McKinney was focused on customer service and felt that Bleau would have the experience to deal with upset citizens in a positive way. During her interview, Bleau had said the first thing she would do is document everything to ensure a paper trail for complaints. 

 

She will start at year three in the compensation plan for $21.02 an hour. 

 

Bleau was selected over candidate Mary Fox, whom the board found to have an impressive resume that made her far overqualified for the position. Fox had been controller for a Volkswagen dealership for many years, overseeing a staff and working with other managers and customer relations. She told the board the hours and workload over the past year had become too much and she was looking for a position that would afford her more of a home life. 

 

Luchi thought Fox would be perfect to shift into the accounting position when Estes decides to retire. But she didn't want to lose Estes so soon after rehiring her and did not want to be seen as pushing her out, with which Levanos agreed. 

 

Luchi asked if they should think about it more but Levanos said they were elected to make a decision and didn't think it should be made on what someone might do in the future. 

 

After discussing the logistics of hiring a person for the purpose of shifting them into another job at an indeterminate time and then leaving the original job open to train another person, the board decided to simply fill the post in front of them. 

 

The board has one last position to fill, that of assessor. The former assessor, Ross Vivori, left at the end of last year. McKinney said there is the possibility of sharing an assessor with Florida, which is also without one at the moment.