Town administrator pay dispute leads to resignation of Finance Committee chair

In protest of the $225,000 salary contracted to be paid to the incoming town administrator Cody Haddad in fiscal year 2026, Chair Robert Gauvin announced he would be resigning from the Finance Committee.

The resignation announcement came during a heated discussion about the Finance Committee’s decision to reduce the allocated amount for the town administrator’s pay in the fiscal year 2026 budget by approximately $24,000 at the Monday, May 5 Select Board meeting.

Gauvin said he had already made the decision to resign prior to the meeting, but chose to inform the board so they could understand “how dissatisfied we were” with the contract pay. His final day will be June 4 — just after the Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, June 3.

At the May 5 Select Board meeting, board member Shawn McDonald said the committee “overstepped their bounds” by interfering with contract negotiations.

“They have placed the town in jeopardy of litigation because we have a signed contract,” he said.

Calling for this reduction to be reversed, McDonald said, "If you don’t, I’m going to make a recommendation [at Town Meeting] to put this $24,000 back from your budget.”

Defending the decision to reduce the pay, Gauvin said the Finance Committee was surprised by the quick turnaround for Haddad’s hiring on Monday, April 28.

“We were shocked that after a year, someone pops out of nowhere and all of a sudden within two hours you signed a contract,” he said, noting later in his resignation letter it was “not a good look.”

He added the $225,000 came as even more of a shock at the committee meeting Thursday, May 1. 

“We were beside ourselves,” he said, noting former Town Administrator Shawn MacInnes, who he sees as having more experience than Haddad, was making approximately $200,000 when he resigned.

He also highlighted that Haddad had made approximately $166,000 in his previous contract as the town administrator of Halifax in fiscal year 2025. 

“I have lost confidence in the Select Board to negotiate contracts for the town of Dartmouth,” Gauvin said.

McDonald rebutted that the noted salary in the Halifax contract was only the base pay and did not account for his health care, which brought Haddad up to approximately $190,000. 

Additionally, he noted the Select Board had followed the same process with the hiring of the human resource director earlier this year and the Finance Committee has never had a say in the town’s hiring.

“You’re wrong on this issue,” McDonald said.

Select Board Chair Heidi Silva Brooks said, “We cannot negotiate in good faith and then think that the Finance Committee is going to renegotiate a contract.”

Finance Committee member Teresa Hamm said the committee stands on its position that it did not interfere with the contract, adding that $200,000 had been budgeted to the position and they were “quite stunned” to see it raised an additional $25,000.

Gauvin has been a member of the Finance Committee for the last five years. His term was set to expire next year. 

“I’ve done my part and it’s time to move on,” he said. “We’re going to ask Town Meeting to approve what we think the budget should be and we’ll see how that goes.”

A total of $108,500,032 will be requested for the fiscal year 2026 budget, which spans from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, at the Spring Town Meeting Tuesday, which does not include the $24,000 negotiated in the town administrator’s contract pay.