The Halifax Select Board executed three contracts in a single open session Aug. 25, closing out a summer of turnover at the top of town government. The board voted unanimously to approve a negotiated contract with Darleen Sullivan as Interim Town Administrator, running from Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, through June 30, 2027, and separately ratified three-year collective bargaining agreements with both of the town’s police unions. Sullivan, the former Norwell Town Administrator, becomes Halifax’s third administrator since Cody Haddad departed just over a year ago
The Select Board opened at 6:00 p.m. and immediately moved into executive session to discuss two MassCOP contract negotiations, the Interim Town Administrator position, and executive session minutes. The motion carried 3-0 on a roll call vote. When the board reconvened in open session, it took its agenda out of order and spent the first 20 minutes on a proposal to merge two volunteer committees before returning to the contracts.
Chair Thomas Pratt framed the administrator vote as the end of a process that had consumed the board for weeks. “Obviously we’re in search of a Town Administrator that’s been going on for the better part of several weeks,” Pratt said. “There’s been some behind-the-scenes work on our end, individually looking for possibilities.”
The board interviewed Sullivan in open session on Aug. 20 and voted that night to appoint her pending successful contract negotiations. Tuesday’s vote executed the agreement. “Darleen presented very well,” Pratt said. “At that time we agreed to enter contract negotiations with the hope of appointing her as Interim Town Administrator, and we’re lucky and fortunate to be in a position to do that.”
Jonathan Selig said the town had landed well given the circumstances. “Darleen has extensive experience, and I’m excited that she’s coming in here as an interim,” Selig said. “We’ll see how it goes, and hopefully we like her and she likes us, and who knows what happens down the road.” Vice Chair William Smith was briefer: “I think we can hit the ground running with her.”
Sullivan spent more than 13 years in Norwell, rising through the Treasurer-Collector and Finance Director roles to Assistant Town Administrator and finally Town Administrator, a post she left at the end of June. Halifax’s vacancy opened when Town Administrator Steven Solbo, who started in Jan. 2026, resigned in August; the board approved a mutual separation and transition agreement on July 30. Sullivan’s contract expires at the close of the fiscal year, leaving the board to run a permanent search during her tenure. No salary figure was stated in open session.
The board also approved memoranda of agreement with Local 239 of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, representing patrol officers, and Local 459, representing police sergeants. Both contracts run July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029. Each passed unanimously with no discussion of financial terms in open session; the bargaining strategy had been handled in executive session earlier in the evening.
“Good job on both of those,” Smith told Selig, who had led the negotiations. “I think it’s a very fair contract, and they deserve it.”
The evening’s longest discussion was also its least formal. Selig floated merging the Halifax Fireworks Committee and the Holidays in Halifax Committee into a single body — a working name of “Halifax Celebrates” was raised — that would handle all town celebrations rather than one summer event and one December event.
“The move now in government is to streamline, is to try to get rid of redundancies,” Selig said. “We have great members on both. I figured it might make more sense to have one committee to handle our celebrations. That way we’re not limited to holidays in Halifax, we’re not limited to fireworks.”
Representatives of both committees told the board they already work together and had no objection. The practical obstacle is procedural: the Holidays in Halifax Committee was established on Town Meeting floor, which means changing its charge, name, or composition requires a Town Meeting vote. The board settled on drafting a warrant article for the fall Special Town Meeting that would amend the existing charge, cover a name change, and set the merged committee’s composition. Members will research the original charge and bring it back.
Budget mechanics were the other complication. Each committee carries its own line item, and only one was funded this fiscal year. Pratt suggested letting the current fiscal year run its course, then folding any future funding into a single joint account rather than appropriating separately for fireworks.
The board also weighed in on a proposed “Friends of” fundraising group modeled on library friends organizations. Selig said such a group would have to operate at arm’s length. “It really can’t have any town involvement,” he said. “If a group of parents or volunteers want to have a Friends thing and do it on their own, for their own reasons, knock yourself out.” Committee members could volunteer at events but should not sit on the friends group’s board, the board agreed, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Taking donations from such a group would be permissible.
The board also declined to reopen the Fourth Avenue boat ramp early, letting the lock stand until its scheduled removal on Sept. 7. No motion was made and no vote taken because none was needed to leave the existing policy in place.
All three members agreed the underlying problem is timing. “This is all reactive,” Pratt said. “Everything we’ve done so far, including this discussion, is reactive. I’d much rather be proactive about a solution.” Selig said he would ask the Parks Commission — Chairman Michael Schleiff and members Bruce Nobles and Jeremy Gillespie — to come before the board in March 2027 to design a policy for the May-through-September season, and said he would not oppose a hybrid arrangement giving residents some form of access. Smith raised eliminating out-of-town beach stickers; Executive Assistant Pamela McSherry said sales had dropped off sharply in recent weeks. The board tabled that question for March as well.
Selig closed with a note about the start of school the following week, asking drivers to slow down. “You’re going to have kids all over the place next week,” he said. “A lot of bike riders. A lot of those e-bikes now. Give yourself some extra time. Give some space to our buses.”
Pratt thanked McSherry for absorbing added workload during the vacancy. “More and more falls on Pam,” he said.