Framingham Town Hall, The Memorial Building

FRAMINGHAM, MA - After 5 1/2 years, Framingham Town Manager Julian Suso is leaving office this week after not having his contract renewed by the Board of Selectman.

Suso, who was a candidate for the Town Manager position in Duxbury, MA and Chatham, MA earlier this year but lost out on his bid for those jobs has landed the Town Manager job in Falmouth, MA will begin his new job in that Cape Cod town next week.

Suso's "Concluding Statement" letter (below) thanks fellow municipal employees, Town Meeting members and residents -- and even thanks the Board of Selectman who cited Suso's lack of long term vision for the Town as one of the major reasons for not extending his contract earlier this year.

TOWN MANAGER’S CONCLUDING STATEMENT

Julian Suso

It has been my honor and privilege to serve fellow residents of Framingham as Town Manager for these past 5 ½ years. As a credentialed professional municipal manager, I thank the Board of Selectmen for the opportunity you have afforded me to serve.

The commitment and support of the Town’s division and department heads has been extraordinary. I have appreciated the excellent working relationship and spirit of collaboration evidenced by my colleagues in the School Department. Each working day I have valued the hard work and dedication to quality public service exhibited by my fellow Town employees. I have admired the many contributions of the citizen volunteers of Framingham to their local government, schools and civic organizations.I greatly appreciate the selfless dedication and considerable support of Town Meeting on so many new initiatives.

It has been a privilege to work diligently on behalf of the Town’s taxpayers in maintaining the responsible cost-containment and collaborative management initiatives which have been underway through this unprecedented period of prolonged economic recession. My career has been dedicated to responsible, cost-effective and ethical local government management. I wish the Town of Framingham and my fellow residents all the very best.

Julian M. Suso
Framingham Town Manager
October 31, 2011

In an overall rating of Suso's performance as Town Manager, in 2010 the Board of Selectmen collectively gave Suso what would amount to a 70% satisfactory grade citing such issues as; failure to complete plans to better utilize Town owned buildings, slow development of the Downtown area and parking plans, and lack of plans to streamline Town government.

Suso was also named as a defendant in multiple lawsuits which grew out of his position as Town Manager. One suit is still unsettled and alleges improper termination by Town Human Resources Director Sandra Charton who claims Suso fired her out of retaliation for her speaking up about his plans to fire other employees. Suso was also named in a lawsuit by SMOC, (a social service agency which ooperates numerous programs in Framingham). The town's insurance company ultimately agreed to pay $1Million to settle that suit.  Suso will likely be named if a suit is filed by the estate of Eurie Stamps who was killed during a bungled Framingham Police SWAT raid at Stamp's home earlier this year -- Suso and Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl jointly issued the only official statement from the Town.  Part of the Framingham Town Manager's job description is to appoint the Chief of Police.

The Framingham Town Manager position was created in 1996 by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, (Chapter 27, Acts of 1996), which is often referred to as "The Town Manager Act".

The act, which in-parts says, "The town manager shall be the chief administrative officer of the town, shall act as the agent for the board of selectmen and shall be responsible to said board of selectmen for the proper operation of town affairs as provided in this act."

Since the creation of the position, five individuals have served as Framingham Town Manger.  Three were actually hired for the job, a fourth, Assistant Town Manger Mark Purple served temporarily as Interim Town Manager, and the fifth, Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey has been appointed as Interim Town Manager twice;

• Russel R. Marcoux, an out-of-town professional administrator who served from 1996-1999.  Marcoux now serves as town manager in Bedford, NH.

• George P. King Jr., a Framingham native who served as Framingham Town Clerk prior to his appointment to the manager position in April of 1998.  King resigned in November of 2005, then went on to become Assistant Superintendent of the Nashoba Regional School District.

• Mark Purple, formerly served as Assistant Town Manager under George King, then temporarily served as Interim Town Manager, (November 1995 through February 2006), after King resigned.

• Valerie Mulvey - Framingham Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey served as interim Town Manager (from February-May of 2006) while a search committee and hired consultant sought candidates for the position.

• Julian Suso - formerly served as manager of the city of Mentor, Ohio, then served as Framingham Town Manager (from May of 2006 through November 1, 2011), and will go on to serve as Town Manager of Falmouth, MA.

• Valerie Mulvey - again, Framingham Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey will serve as interim Town Manager while a newly formed search committee and another consultant attempt to hire a suitable candidate for the job.

Prior to the Town Manager Act of 1996,  Chapter 816, Acts of 1975 had created the position of Executive Administrator, and prior to that the Town of Framingham Board of Selectman were solely responsible for executive and overseeing administrative duties having to do with the operation of the town.

Richard Kobayashi, a consultant hired to help locate suitable candidates to replace Suso is working with an appointed Town Manager Search Committee to filter through dozens of applicants to narrow down the number of candidates for the job, after which the Board of Selectman will perform a small number of in-person interviews to fill the position.

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