HAVERHILL — A Peacham, Vt., man will serve as Haverhill’s next town administrator, the Selectboard announced last week.
Tom Galinat will serve as the town’s next administrator, taking over on Dec. 1 for interim administrator Rod O’Shana, who also is the chair of the Selectboard.
Galinat has served as town administrator in the Lamoille County town of Johnson, Vt., since Sept. 2023 and was the town clerk in Peacham before that, according to a LinkedIn profile.
He was one of four finalists in the national search that consulting firm Municipal Solutions began in April, according to meeting minutes from September.
The consulting company sought a candidate with at least five years experience managing local government with a preference for experience in New England, according to a profile for the position. The town does not require that the administrator be a Haverhill resident.
The town has budgeted $115,000 for the position in 2025, O’Shana said in a Friday email.
O’Shana has been interim town administrator in Haverhill since the summer of 2024. Former Administrator Brigitte Codling resigned in June 2024.
The town attempted to conduct a search for the position immediately after Codling left, but opted to take a different tact and explore hiring a firm last fall, according to meeting minutes.
Codling, who started as Haverhill’s town manager in 2019, cited animosity and disrespect from residents as reasons for her resignation.
Voters opted to shift the position from town manager to town administrator in a 361-323 vote at Town Meeting in 2024.
Under state law, a town manager oversees all of the town’s daily operations including hiring and firing department heads. Meanwhile, a town administrator works under the authority of the Selectboard, which retains executive authority.