Update: the interviews have been rescheduled for Monday, Nov. 15.

 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The mayor of North Adams is being interviewed for a  new position — town manager of Williamstown. 

 

Thomas Bernard, who will end his second two-year term in the corner office at the beginning of the new year, is a finalist to be interim town manager for the Village Beautiful. He and Barry Del Castilho, former town manager of Amherst, will be interviewed publicly on Friday afternoon.

 

The Select Board determined last month to seek out another temporary manager when a nationwide search failed to turn up a suitable candidate for the permanent position. Officials are trying to replace Jason Hoch, who left by mutual agreement in the wake of a federal lawsuit that was filed in August against him, the former chief of police and the town.

 

Charles Blanchard, appointed in April, will end his service in December. Blanchard, now retired, was the town manager in town of Palmer and the town administrator in the Worcester County town of Paxton.

 

Bernard decided to not to run for a third term back in February and focus on initiatives that got sidelined during the pandemic. Jennifer Macksey, the city's first woman mayor, will be sworn in in January.

 

Bernard is a graduate of Drury High School in North Adams and Williams College. He holds a master of public administration from Westfield State University and previously worked in administrative positions at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts that have included financial oversight and development. 

 

Del Castilho, of Buckland, was town manager of Amherst for 23 years, retiring in 2006. Since then he has worked as a consultant and in number of interim and acting positions, including most recently in Longmeadow. He serves on the Buckland Select Board. 

 

The interviews will be in person and in public with Bernard at 2:30 p.m. and Del Castilho at 3:30 p.m. The board intends to deliberate following the interviews.