It’s official: Town Administrator William Keegan has taken a new job as town manager in Mansfield, where he will probably begin work in February.
“People have been very, very supportive. They’ve been great,” Keegan said of the response to the news that he will be going to Mansfield. “There was no reason for me to leave Dedham, other than the fact that this opportunity presented itself. I’ve been very happy here…I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made over the years, and the support people have given me.”
The Mansfield Board of Selectmen chose Keegan for the position over two other finalists – William Ross, the just-retired city manager of Jackson, Mich., and former Brockton mayor John Yunits Jr. – after interviews Wednesday night.
Keegan said today the move is “the next logical step for me from a professional perspective,” as the town manager title will allow him to have more central authority over the organizational structure and the appointment process than he has in Dedham.
He said “there are a lot of things that are really similar to Dedham in a lot of ways,” including that Mansfield is very community- and family-oriented, which appealed to him.
Keegan said Mansfield, which is at the junction of I-95 and I-495, has clearly already had development, but is “an untapped area” with its potential for redevelopment of existing facilities and expansion of its economic base.
“It’s such a strategic location in the state. I think it has enormous possibilities and potential for redevelopment, and for really reshaping that area so it can be highly successful,” he said.
The job switch will allow Keegan, 50, to work much closer to his home and family in Seekonk. He said he would be getting some kind of pay raise, noting the expanded role of the new job. He currently receives a compensation package of $143,400 in Dedham.
Keegan said he, Acting Town Manager Nick Riccio and a town consultant are working out the details of his contract.
Keegan said he expects to leave Dedham sometime in February, and “my anticipation is they’ll want me there as soon as possible,” as Mansfield has been without a permanent town manager since July 1. During the transition, he will do some double duty.
“Even while I’m developing a budget for this town, I’ll most likely be working with them developing a budget for them as well,” he said.
Reflecting on his seven and a half years in Dedham’s top post, Keegan said, “One of the things I’m most proud of is the organization we’ve created here, and how they have become very, very responsive to the needs of the community.”
For more on this story, see next week’s Dedham Transcript.
Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
