DAVID CASTELLARIN
Next Town Accountant/Finance Director
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Select Board voted 2-1 to appoint a Lincoln Avenue man as Lynnfield’s next town accountant/finance director during a Dec. 2 meeting.
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton recalled that the town has been searching for a new town accountant/finance director after Town Accountant/Assistant Finance Director Julie McCarthy announced she is retiring on Jan. 31. He said a screening committee reviewed 13 resumes from applicants.
“We ended up interviewing four candidates, and that committee has recommended two finalists for consideration,” said Dalton.
Dalton said the finalists were Bedford Finance Director David Castellarin, who lives on Lincoln Avenue, and Nahant Finance Director/Town Accountant Alison Nieto. The Select Board asked both candidates the same questions.
Select Board member Phil Crawford asked Castellarin, who was appointed to the Finance Committee by the Select Board this past May, why he applied for the town accountant/finance director job.
Castellarin said he began his 34-and-a-half year career working as a field representative/accountant for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services’ Bureau of Accounts from June 1989 to March 1997. Castellarin worked as Winthrop’s town accountant from March 1997 to June 2000. He served as Swampscott’s assistant town administrator/town accountant from June 2000 to May 2017. While working in Swampscott, he also served as the town’s parking clerk and served as Swampscott Public Schools’ business manager for a few years.
After Castellarin decided to make a “career change,” he worked as the deputy director of the Somerville Retirement Board from May 2017 to January 2018. He went back into the municipal finance field by serving as Stoneham’s town accountant from January 2018 to June 2021. Castellarin has been Bedford’s finance director since June 2021.
“The reason why I am interested in this job is I live in the town, and I have a longstanding connection to the town with a family business that was in town for almost 35 years,” said Castellarin. “I was the assistant varsity hockey coach in Lynnfield from 1997 to 2010. It is also a quality of life choice too. It saves me two hours of traffic a day.”
Select Board member Alexis Leahy asked Castellarin what other skill sets would he bring to the town accountant/finance director job.
Castellarin said he has used the municipal accounting program Munis, which Lynnfield also uses, for the past 27 years. After being hired as Bedford’s finance director, he said he brought the software program to the town.
“This position would have me just walking in and doing the same role,” said Castellarin. “I was also a reserve police officer while I was doing my municipal stuff, so I understand police, police contracts, police language and a lot of language in contracts. I was on both the union side and the management side.”
Dalton asked Castellarin to describe his work with developing municipal operating budgets.
“In each town I have worked in, I put a budget guide together,” said Castellarin “It basically lists out certain criteria, one of which is what they can increase in salaries and what their total budget can be increased by. I also ask them for goals, prior accomplishments and significant changes. My goal would be to get the GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) Budget Award, which I used to do in Swampscott and Stoneham. In Bedford, with there being so much work with the conversions, we haven’t had a chance but we are working on that this fiscal year. I take that budget guide and distribute it to all of the departments. We have a salary sheet that everyone fills in, and we verify the salaries and work through the process. The downfall in Bedford is Bedford has a lot of money. It’s around $9 million, so it’s tough to tell a department that you can only go up this much when we have that much more we could spend, but we have to look out for the residents too. You have to sit down with the departments through the process, go through their budget requests line-by-line and discuss any increases or decreases.”
After reviewing different budget requests, Castellarin said he and Bedford’s town manager finalize the budget and present it to the Select Board.
Crawford asked Castellarin about his experience working with public school districts.
Castellarin said he developed “great relationships” with the school officials he has worked with in other communities.
“Usually when we start off the budget process, I will sit with them and go over a couple of percentages they can increase by,” said Castellarin. “One is a little higher and the other is less, so they have two budgets prepared so if we can’t fund the higher percentage, they already have a lower percentage budget that is already prepared. Bedford is a little different because the Finance Committee sets a guideline, and they tell the town and the schools how much they can go up percentage wise. In the other communities I have worked in, it was basically the town and the schools working together to come up with a budget.”
Leahy asked Castellarin about his experience dealing with debt exclusions and Proposition 2 ½ overrides.
Castellarin said he was involved with two debt exclusions in Swampscott.
“We also did a menu override where we let the residents choose which override they wanted to fund whether that be the school department, the library and so forth,” added Castellarin. “That gave the residents choices of what they wanted to fund and put their tax dollars to work.”
Dalton asked Castellarin about his experience developing budget forecasts.
Castellarin said he is “constantly” creating budget forecasts, and he also developed a six-year capital plan for Bedford.
“Every negotiation that we do, I have to do the analysis of what it is going to cost the town,” said Castellarin.
Crawford asked Castellarin about his communication skills.
“Communication is key,” said Castellarin. “We are here to provide customer service for not only the residents and businesses’, but also amongst the departments. You have to have an ongoing relationship with everybody. If you don’t have constant communication, things break down and go awry. You have to have constant communication with every department, and also be as nice as you can. You have to treat people how you want to be treated.”
Leahy asked Castellarin if he feels comfortable presenting budgets during board meetings and at Town Meeting.
Castellarin said yes.
“This position is the hardest position because you have to say no to people,” said Castellarin. “It’s hard when people come in and you have to constantly say no whether because of laws or you don’t have the money. That is the role of this position. If you can’t do that, you can’t be in this position.”
After Castellarin finished his interview, Crawford thanked the screening committee for bringing forward “two very qualified candidates.”
“There is one candidate who stands head and shoulders above the other,” said Crawford. “I think Dave Castellarin has far more experience and he can hit the ground running. He is an expert in Munis. That is a big part of our whole system here, and we have to hit the ground running with whoever we choose.”
Leahy said Castellarin and Nahant Finance Director/Town Accountant Alison Nieto would both “bring a lot of experience to this role.” While she was impressed with Castellarin’s previous experience serving as Swampscott’s school business manager, Leahy said Nieto “interviewed a lot better.”
“I got a better sense for the additional tasks and roles she takes on within each of the departments,” said Leahy. “I really felt like she was comfortable taking on a lot of those. I thought Alison was the better candidate. I do think either of them could do this job very well, and that is the tough part of this. I do get the sense from Alison that she would be a little more innovative and a little bit more flexible. We are a town that runs very lean, and we do need people that are very flexible and are able to pick up some additional things when they are needed.”
Dalton said Crawford and Leahy both raised valid points.
“I think Alison’s interview gave us a lot better insight into her if you take the interview isolated,” said Dalton. “On the other hand, I have a lot of confidence in Dave because he is a member of the Finance Committee.”
Dalton also noted that retiring Town Accountant/Assistant Finance Director Julie McCarthy recommended that Castellarin be appointed as her successor.
“They have worked in the same field for a lot of years, and like a lot of people in those positions, they know each other well,” said Dalton. “She felt absolutely confident that Dave could do the job. What gives Dave the edge in my opinion is the personal knowledge of where he is at and where he has been.”
After the discussion, Crawford and Dalton voted to appoint Castellarin as the next town accountant/director of finance. Leahy voted no. The Select Board entered into executive session in order to discuss negotiating Castellarin’s contract.
McCarthy informed the Villager that Castellarin resigned from the Finance Committee on Dec. 3.