Paxton Select Board ratifies Birkbeck as town administrator through June 2027

Select Board · Meeting of February 10, 2026

Paxton Select Board unanimously ratifies Robert Birkbeck as permanent town administrator through June 2027. The board voted 5-0 at its February 10 meeting to approve Birkbeck's contract at approximately $118,000 annually, skipping a formal search process after town counsel confirmed the direct appointment was permissible. One board member, identified as Neil, questioned the decision, noting that Rutland recently hired a town administrator at $140,000 to $145,000 and that the board had set aside $15,000 to $18,000 for a search that was never conducted; the chair responded that the risk of losing a stabilizing leader outweighed the transparency value of a search.

The board also tabled proposed Capital Improvement Planning Committee bylaw revisions — drawn from research across 17 communities — until at least the fall special town meeting, with members citing the need to first re-engage the Collins Center for Public Management to update a 2019 municipal asset inventory that has gone without revision for six years. Earlier, Paxton Municipal Light Department representative Tara Rondo reported a $1.18 million MassCEC grant to replace the substation's 53-year-old transformer, with the town responsible for roughly $800,000 of the total cost.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of February 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.