Rehoboth Selectmen Vote to Combine Two Positions

The Board of Selectmen voted Monday to combine the roles of the Town Administrator and the Director of Finance into a new position.

“We concluded there were deficiencies in the contract for Town Administrator,” Chairman Skip Vadnais explained. “It did not include long-term planning, budget reviews, investment oversight, financial analysis, etc.”

A consulting group was retained to evaluate the workings of town government. Recommendations were made to the board suggesting improvements.

“We incorporated all of that and made a decision that the best thing we could do was what I call collapsing both contracts into one,” Vadnais continued. “We created a new job description. This is going to give us a better tool for our financial planning. It’s becoming more and more difficult for us to move ahead on property taxes, you can only support so much.”

Town Administrator Deborah Arruda’s contract expires on June 30, along with the contract of Sue Pimental, the Director of Finance.

“After the Board met on March 16 under executive session to discuss my contract and the Interim Finance Director & Compliance contract, a letter was hand delivered to me by Selectman (David) Pereira stating my contract would not be renewed for FY’27,” Arruda said Tuesday. “It stated the direction the Board had decided to go in would include TA, (Human Resources) and Financing responsibilities.  The current job description that I follow encompasses those duties.”

Pereira and Selectman George Solas will be scheduling interviews for the new position.

“The intent is to do this before the end of the fiscal year,” Solas said.

“Anyone that’s interested should apply,” Vadnais added. “We will make a selection prior to June 30.”