ITEM FILE PHOTO
City Clerk Mary Audley, pictured, is preparing to retire from a 45-year-career.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — Wanted: a city clerk and a police chief. The pay is north of $100,000.
As Mary Audley prepares to retire from the city clerk’s office and Chief Kevin Coppinger leaves the police department to be the next Essex County sheriff, Lynn is seeking to fill their shoes.
City Council President Daniel Cahill posted an ad for a city clerk. The council, not the mayor, chooses the clerk, according to the city charter.
“Lynn is seeking to appoint a knowledgeable and experienced person … duties include recording vital statistics, issuing licenses, supervising staff, and serve as election commissioner,” the post said.
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Resumes are due on Thursday and the city council’s Personnel Committee is expected to make a recommendation to the full council on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
A City Hall source said the race to succeed Audley is down to state Rep. Brendan Crighton’s wife, Andrea, a clerk in state Senate on Beacon Hill, and former City Councilor Timothy Phelan, a failed candidate for mayor in 2013.
City Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre, who chairs the Personnel Committee, said the panel will select someone who has experience, a strong education background and a person who will be a good public face to the clerk’s office.
“I know all the candidates well and it will be a difficult choice,” he said. “This will be a down-to-the-wire race.”
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Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the process to replace Coppinger begins next month.
Among the candidates eligible to apply from the department are Deputy Chiefs Leonard Desmarais and Michael Mageary, as well as Capts. Mark O’Toole, Christopher Reddy, Edward Blake, William Borders and Michael Vail.
MMA Consulting Group Inc., a Plymouth-based company provides a so-called Assessment Center to be held in mid-January comprised of an expert panel that interviews the candidates, asks their responses to real-life situations, grades them and recommends the top three to the mayor, who makes the selection.
It won’t be a long process and I should know the top candidates by late January,” Kennedy said. “In the meantime, Leonard Desmarais will be the acting chief when Kevin leaves on Jan. 3.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].