WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board's third-floor meeting to complete its evaluation process for the town manager will be televised by the town's public, educational and governmental television station.

 

Willinet Executive Director Teri Yuan confirmed this week that the station will put a camera in the upstairs conference room to record a planned 8 p.m. single-item agenda meeting to do the annual review of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.

 

The board at its last meeting decided to break the evaluation out from its regular 7 p.m. meeting in the first floor Community Meeting room, which is set up with multiple cameras and audio equipment to facilitate live Willinet telecasts of most public meetings of town boards and committees.

 

The Select Board offered no real explanation for the desire to complete the evaluation in an otherwise public meeting outside of view from Willinet's cameras other than a desire to "sit around the table" rather than sit on one side of a large table along one side of the first floor meeting room.

 

The "sit around the table" talk was particularly puzzling given the fact that Willinet has a camera mounted on the wall behind the spot where Menicocci generally sits for Select Board meetings, a camera that gives a full view of both sides of the table, and an angle that Willinet frequently uses when panels like the Finance Committee invite participants to sit across the table from the committee to give testimony.

 

Perhaps the real reason is better explained by a joking comment from one Select Board member at the Sept. 28 meeting who indicated that doing the evaluation without access to things like Zoom capability was "the object" of moving that business to the third-floor meeting room.

 

The evaluation discussion on Monday evening will follow on a survey of the five board members assessing Menicocci's performance in fiscal year 2026, which ended on June 30.

 

Select Board members were asked to score Menicocci on a scale from 1 to 5 on 18 criteria in five categories: Select Board relations and governance; financial management; operations, administration and personnel; town meeting and committee relations; and community and regional relations.

 

The town manager scored in the 3s and 4s in most of the criteria with four criteria falling from 2.5 to 3.0 and identified as "growth opportunities" on a scoresheet compiled by Chair Peter Beck.

 

Ironically, for a board that was camera shy about scheduling its own meetings, the board rated Menicocci at 2.6 in its performance indicator 1.1, "Maintains clear, timely, and transparent communication with Select Board members."

 

At the regular 7 p.m. meeting in the first-floor meeting room, the Select Board, in its capacity as the town's Road Commission, will consider a resident's request that the town create a crosswalk at the intersection of Church and Manning Streets near Williamstown Elementary School, consider appointing Alice Bradley or Anne Islan to the Community Preservation Committee and finalize the purchase and sales agreement for 59 Water St., with an anticipated closing date of Oct. 28 for a sale to Williams College.