By Theresa Knapp

The Hopedale Select Board has chosen Mitchell Ruscitti of Milford as its new Town Administrator. 

Interim Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting has been serving in the position since December and his term is ending shortly.

Before the interviews began, John Petrin of Community Paradigm Associates, the consultant helping the town with the process, said his firm had received 17 applications for the position, six finalists were chosen by the firm and advanced to the town’s seven-member screening committee. The final three candidates advanced to interviews with the Select Board. 

At its meeting on May 10, the board interviewed the final candidates which included Justine Caggiano of Spencer who currently serves as Human Resources Director for the Town of Ware and has previously served in a similar position for the Town of Millbury; Chad Lovett of Middleboro who currently serves as Director of Facilities and Capital Planning for the Town of Wrentham; before ultimately choosing Ruscitti. 

Ruscitti who is the founder and chief consultant with Tillrock Consulting which “provides municipal and private clients with an array of services including but not limited to professional grant writing, the review and drafting of MOUs and other necessary contract agreements.” Hethat I care deeply about so I’m not looking to move on after a contract, I’d like this to be kind of a long-term home,” he said, adding he would set a tone that reflected his desire to stay here for a while, which will help him in team-building. 

Ruscitti said he has a calm demeanor, is an effective communicator, has an “all hands on deck approach” philosophy, and aims to build trust. He sees Hopedale’s top key issues include finances, natural resources, Draper property, and the railroad. 

Asked what he would hope his accomplishments would be one year from now, he said he would hope the community was in a better position than it was when he started. 

“I think that a year from now my goal would be to have a good working relationship with the board, that the board feels supported, that they feel like the decisions that they’re making are well-informed, and that the department heads feel like they’re supported and that they can do their jobs,” he said, adding he would also look for grants that could benefit the town. “Really, just putting the town on a good management footing is what I’d like to achieve in the first year.” 

On a motion made by select person Bernie Stock, and seconded by Scott Savage, and voted unanimously to hire Ruscitti. 

Stock said all three were strong candidates. 

“This was not an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination. They all brought something strong to the table,” said Stock. “Every one of them came in here prepared. They watched these meetings on cable; they watched the finance committee meetings; they tried to search for things that they couldn’t find and were disappointed that they couldn’t bring the information to the table. That’s a level of interest that you rarely see. I was really, really impressed with that. Really good people.” 

The Select Board ratified the contract with Ruscitti at its meeting on May 15, 2023. Ruscitti’s first day will be June 26.has held various municipal positions in Rutland, Worcester, and Kentucky. He said he is currently on Milford’s Finance Committee where he does all of its grant writing and development work. 

Ruscitti said, “I’ll flat-out say this, I’m attracted to this community because it’s a community