Town Administrator William Keegan is one of three finalists to become town manager in Mansfield, where he will interview with selectmen Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Keegan, who has served in Dedham’s top post since June 2002, said the Mansfield job could be a personal and professional improvement.
“This is an opportunity to go from an administrator to a manager, which is a different role. It’s a little stronger role, a little more central authority in terms of the organization,” he said in an interview this afternoon.
He said he did not want to comment at length, because “I’ve not been offered the job, so I don’t want to be disrespectful to the process.”
But he readily agreed that another consideration is that Mansfield is closer to his Seekonk home. His commute to Mansfield would be 15 to 20 minutes, compared to the 45 minutes or longer it takes him to drive to Dedham. He said the traffic “can be brutal at times,” such as this morning, when his commute took an hour and a half.
“I’m not getting any younger,” added Keegan, who is 50. “It’s funny how things sort of pop up the way they do, and I just happened to talk to another colleague of mine” who said “this may be a good match for you,” Keegan said. The more he considered it, the more he became interested in the position, he said.
“While we are certainly concerned about losing the highly valuable services of Mr. Keegan, we also respect his interest in furthering the goals of his professional career,” Selectmen Chairman Michael Butler said in a statement.
A seven-member search committee named Keegan a finalist, as well as William Ross, the former city manager of Jackson, Mich., and John Yunits Jr., a former mayor of Brockton.
Mansfield’s Board of Selectmen will hold in-depth interviews with all three candidates on Nov. 4, said Nick Riccio, Mansfield’s building inspector, who has been serving as acting town manager since July 1. The selectmen are due to meet the following week on Tuesday, Nov. 10, which is when they could make their decision.
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“I can’t speak for the board, but I imagine they’ll hopefully make a decision that night,” Riccio said.
John D’Agostino was Mansfield’s town manager from 1997 to 2009. Selectmen voted not to renew his contract last November, and the board later reached a settlement with D’Agostino, who left June 30.
Keegan came to Dedham in 2002 after serving since 1997 as town administrator in Seekonk. His career also includes five years as director of human resources and labor relations in Hollywood, Fla., four years as assistant executive secretary in Wayland, four years as assistant to the town manager in his native Shrewsbury, and one year as town planner in Millbury.
He has a master’s degree in regional planning from UMass-Amherst, and a bachelor’s in history from Westfield State College.
Business will continue as usual in Dedham until the Mansfield selectmen make their choice, Keegan said.
“I’m not going to change my work objectives. I’m still gainfully employed here and I intend to stay that way right up until a change is made, or if a change is made,” he said.
Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
