CLARKSBURG -- Cheshire's town administrator has been named as Clarksburg's next administrator.
The Selectmen unanimously appointed Thomas Webb to the position Wednesday morning following interviews with him and Barbara Kellogg, who were the two finalists chosen by the board last week.
In an interview following the announcement. Webb, who lives in Williamstown, said he accepted the position and will begin next week.
"I'm going to be working a couple days a week until I'm formally through with Cheshire, which should be June 6," he said.
He is looking forward to being Clarksburg's town administrator, and it will be a great opportunity, he said.
"I'm somewhat familiar with the town," he said. "I've worked with the senior center project and on the beginning of the senior housing project."
Webb's annual salary will be $41,000 for the full-time position. He will replace former Town Administrator Michael Canales, who resigned in March to take the position of administrative officer for the city of North Adams. Canales had announced his resignation in January.
Carl McKinney, chairman of the Selectmen, said it's a great relief to have the town administrator position filled.
"It seems like a big weight has been lifted," he said. "It has been a pretty tough four months."
He is very optimistic that Webb's appointment will work out well, he said.
"It's going to be a new chapter for Clarksburg," he
Lily Kuzia, vice chairwoman of the Selectmen, said both Webb and Kellogg were very skilled and knowledgeable candidates and choosing one of them to fill the town administrator post was a very hard decision.
"However, Tom has so much more," she said.
McKinney said at one point during the interview with Webb, Webb started asking the board questions about the town's finances, stabilization account, needs of the school, senior housing and amount of town- and state-owned land.
"He had a lot of questions for us," McKinney said. "At some point, it felt like we were being interviewed."
Webb has been town administrator of Cheshire, which is a part-time position, since 2008.
Carol Francesconi, chairwoman of the Cheshire Selectmen, said Wednesday afternoon that the board had yet to be notified of Webb's appointment and at the moment there was no "Plan B."
"We'll have to advertise for a part-time town administrator in the weeks ahead. Looking back when we hired Tom, we didn't have a lot of applicants because everyone wants full-time," she said.
Transcript reporter Phil Demers contributed to this report.
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