Rebecca Oldham received her second promotion of the year last Wednesday night, becoming named as Groveland’s first town administrator.
Oldham had served as town planner since September of 2018, but was promoted this past spring to director of Groveland’s new Economic Development, Planning and Conservation Department.
Oldham was a last-minute applicant after one of three finalists withdrew. As WHAV reported last month, Groveland’s Board of Selectmen planned to interview two finalists, Christine Lindberg, Dracut’s human resources director, and James Ryan, chief aide to the town manager of Salisbury. They were among 18 applicants.
Former Groveland Selectman Joseph D’Amore was the leading force in convincing voters to make the first major change in the structure of town government since 1954, and the plan was approved last May at Town Meeting authorized selectmen to appoint a town administrator.
“We do have personnel bylaws. Those bylaws are not going to be terminated, but they’re going to be fulfilled by a town administrator that will manage personnel and a lot of employees will actually have a boss that they can call a boss or not a boss, I suppose, but someone they can say this person is in charge in Town Hall,” D’Amore previously told WHAV.
Town Meeting also approved the dissolution of the current finance director system, allowing Selectmen to reorganize municipal operations around a financial team led by the town administrator.
Prior to joining Groveland, Oldham served as senior planner for Methuen, where she was involved with the construction of the city’s rail trail, obtaining a Green Communities Designation and the development of a Complete Streets policy. She also previously served as the community development program coordinator for Methuen and staff planner for North Andover.