by Ed Naile
Rejoice South Hadley Massachusetts You are the winners! Your Selectmen hired the notorious manager of municipal mayhem, Paul Beecher – upon the repeated warnings of several of us who have had dealings with him in the past – but only in three other states.
Thirty years experience in municipal government, Paul Beecher has, and what a glorious rise to the top.
Most recently, before working for the head-hunting firm that brought you this guy – “Hey Hadley, Gotcha the perfect candidate for town manager, ME!” was holed up in Kingman, Arizona.
But Beecher disease took hold and he left unexpectedly. He never expected they would fire him for granting pay increases to employees without City Council approval. And there was that interesting habit of spending all day emailing various locations, all hush, hush.
Let’s talk Dover, NH where Beecher gave huge benefit packages to city employees behind the backs of the City Council.
And before Dover there was Kansas City Mo., Beecher’s almost million dollar street lighting contract went into effect without the knowledge of the City council there. Sound like a pattern?
And in the long list of municipalities Beecher has worked for on his professional resume I found here:
There is no mention of his term as head of the NH Municipal association, aka the Local Government Center which is currently fighting tooth and nail with the NH Securities Commission over its internal financial records. Can’t wait to see what the public/private servants at the NHMA bring home each week and how well their retirement stands up against, say the Manchester Firefighters Assoc for whom they broker insurance.
Back to the South Hadley Selectmen, who if they wanted to give their employees a huge retirement/benefit windfall without voting in public to do so, have stumbled onto the perfect scheme – Paul Beecher.
Just to sum up this story lets not forget that Beecher was working for a head hunting outfit which finds qualified candidates for municipal positions. This is like hiring a real estate agent who says, here is what you should ask for your house, by the way, I’ll buy it.