In his first weeks in office, new City Manager Fidel Maltez has been working to fill out his staff.
Late last year, the city council approved a request from Maltez to fund a reorganization of the city manager’s office that sees staff increase from three to five employees.
Rather than one deputy city manager, the office will now operate with two deputy managers reporting to Maltez, one for operations and one for finance. In addition, the council also approved funding the new position of Director of Constituent Services.
The duties of that position include listening to resident concerns, providing information and assistance, coordinating with the city council, and advocating for residents, according to Maltez.
Maltez said the search to fill those positions is going well.
“Chelsea is an exciting community, and I am very excited about the number of applicants that we received and the caliber of the applicants,” he said. “Chelsea is a gateway community, we are always in conversations with Boston, with Somerville, with Cambridge. For anyone who wants to do good work, Chelsea is a good place to be.”
The interview process is ongoing now, and Maltez said he’d like to make a decision on final hires by the end of January.
“They are critical to the long-term operation of the city,” said Maltez, especially as the municipal budgeting process for the next fiscal year kicks off in City Hall.
In addition to the positions in the city manager’s office, the city is also looking for a new Director of Housing and Community Development to replace Alex Train, who left that position at the end of last year.
“I wish (Train) nothing but the best,” said Maltez. “He was a huge asset for the city of Chelsea and really accomplished a lot. He brought in a lot of grants to the city, he created a lot of innovative and progressive projects and programs that really benefited our residents.”
While the city will miss Train, Maltez said the community development department grew under his tenure and that its staff is ready to face and meet new challenges as the hiring process for a new director continues.