MARSHFIELD — September 21, 2026 — Marshfield’s new town administrator told the Select Board that departments townwide have not been adhering to procurement law and called the practice a liability, as the board adopted a 12-month list of expectations for the post on a voice vote over one member’s objection to the town-schools funding agreement.
The Full Story
Five weeks into the job, Town Administrator Ted Langill told the board that a replacement procurement policy is already in draft with the town accountant and the town’s procurement consultant. Those two had been struggling to enforce the rules with no one in the administrator’s position to help them, Langill said. A sit-down with department heads is planned for October, with the new procedure enforced sometime in November, ahead of the January 1, 2027 date in the board’s own expectations document.
I get the frustration. I get the extra work that’s involved in a correct, proper procurement process. It’s a lot of work for departments that have less people than they might have in the past, but we can’t get around adhering to the law.
— Ted Langill, Town Administrator 26:44
The expectations set dated targets in five objective areas. Performance audits of major town departments cannot be funded until after the October 19 special town meeting. A procurement review is due November 30, revised procedures January 1, 2027. On the chair’s motion the board pushed health care and pension options to February 28 and the draft resident communication strategy to February 1, 2027, and inserted the word property into the risk management objective.
Member Eric Kelley would not vote for the package as written. Its first objective is implementing the memorandum of understanding the board signed with the school district, which that member had voted against.
I like just about everything. The only issue I have, Mr. Chair, as well, you should know, is that I cannot go along with the MOU with the schools.
— Eric Kelley, Select Board 1:15:34
Chris Rohland argued that directing the administrator to carry out an approved policy is not an endorsement of it, and Chair Rick Smith, calling the agreement the policy of the sitting board, declined to strip it out. The list was adopted on a voice vote over Kelley’s objection.
