Lancaster Town Administrator Kate Hodges

Original plans called for the Dracut Town Manager Search Committee to submit three names to the Select Board for consideration to lead the town going forward. When the dust settled on the process, however, two candidates emerged ahead of the pack and were the only ones to have their names submitted.

Kate Hodges, Town Administrator in Lancaster Mass, and Jason Silva, who holds the same title in Dunstable, are the two finalists for the position.

Hodges took the reins in Lancaster, a town of nearly 8.500 people, in April of 2022. Prior to that, she served seven years as Assistant Town Manager and Deputy Town Manager in Concord, MA, and spent nearly seven years as Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Education in Littleton.

Silva took the helm in Dunstable in December of 2022. Before leading that community of nearly 3,500 people, he was Town Administrator in Marblehead for over 3 years, Chief of Staff for State Senator Joan Lovely, Chief of Staff and Director of Municipal Operations and Capital Improvements in Salem MA, and Executive Director of the Salem YMCA.

Dunstable Town Administrator Jason Silva

Tony Archinski, Dracut Board of Selectman Chair, says the board is hoping to schedule interviews for November 7th, and that he’d like the board to announce the decision at its November 12 meeting.

He adds the time frame is contingent on scheduling and that the interviews will be conducted in an open meeting, with the public invited, and broadcast live on Dracut Access Television (DATV).

In other Town Manager news, the Select Board ratified the appointment of Alison Manugian as Assistant Manager at it’s meeting this past Tuesday night. Manugian was then appointed Interim Town Manager, replacing Gregory Hanley, whose last day on the job is today.