Salem Reacts to Town Manager's Possible Departure

The news that Salem Town Manager Keith Hickey is a finalist for the town manager's job in Dracut, MA took many people by surprise.

Neither Hickey nor any of the members of the Salem Board of Selectmen responded to requests for comment on the report, but many in the community are voicing their opinions. Below is a sampling of what some Salem Patch readers had to say:

"Good luck to Mr. Hickey if this is a change he is looking for," said Mica Johansen. "It is never a good time to change management leadership, especially when so much is going on. I have a feeling that if the high school proposal fails, many people in the school district will be heading for greener (and younger) pastures. So much effort has been put in by so many in the school district it could be very depressing to stay."

"The only major issue I have with Mr. Hickey is that on several occasions he made decisions that I think he should have run by the Selectmen," said Tom Linehan. "Having spent a considerable portion of my life in positions of some authority, I learned a long time ago that it behoves one to keep one's boss in the loop. Not doing so causes all kinds of issues no matter who your boss is. Not the least of such issues is that you are leaving those above you open to being blindsided. And that is not a good thing no matter what your position is. Whether or not he had the authority to make these decisions to me is irrelevant."

"Just another highly paid migrant worker. I don't know what this article has to do with the school bond but get your plug in where you can. Our selectman are our leaders, elected by us. These managers are nothing more than paper pushers," said a Salem Patch reader going by the name of Patriot. "They come here and try a few concepts they have found and leave us the mess. We should set up our management style and policies. These employees should just manage that. No more reinventing the wheel. I would rather hire a person with a GED that loves to work than these self professed geniuses. We put them in charge of billions of dollars worth assets. 10's of thousands of people depend on a stable form of government. And what do we get for our money? Transient employees!"

"It's unfortunate we may lose him," said a reader identifying himself as Scott-NH. "He's had long tenures in Bedford and Merrimack, both of these communities should be a model for Salem when it comes to planning and urban development, while bringing in businesses and promoting an attractive community. Then again, it might be that he's trying to get out from the under the dysfunction that makes Salem what it Isn't and who could blame him? We've had a revolving door of town managers for the past decade, they leave faster than they arrived and usually depart with obscene payouts as they go [most, not all]. You can't have that many people come and go and not be aware of what the underlying issue, most likely is."

"This is the first time I have heard of this," said Paul Pelletier on Salem Patch's Facebook page. "I'm a bit suprised, The Salem Selectmen just approved a raise in pay for him."

"Who?" added Adam Frederick.

David Moran said "He seems to move around a lot!! Better to get someone else who is and wants to be a part of the community!!"

[For more on Hickey's possible departure, check out Bedford resident Kathy Benuck's blog post on Hickey's time as the town manager in that community.]