© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Berkshire Native Returns As Lenox Town Manager

The Lenox Town Seal (founded 1767)
wikipedia.org
/
Wikipedia Commons

A western Massachusetts native with state and town government experience has returned to the area to serve as town manager of Lenox

Christopher Ketchen says he always had the goal of becoming a town manager. And it just so happened that a chance to accomplish that popped up half an hour from where he grew up.

“It’s not often that you get to have your personal goals and your professional goals achieved in accepting a job, but that was certainly the case when the Lenox opportunity came up,” Ketchen said.

The 37-year-old Ketchen grew up in Alford and worked in the division of local services within the Massachusetts Department of Revenue in Boston. He has also served as the deputy director of general government in Wellesley and most recently as the finance director in Hopkinton. Hans Larsen is the executive director for the town of Wellesley. After working with Ketchen for four years, Larsen says Ketchen was destined to work in government.

“Very high degree of ethics and responsibility toward a community that he’s serving for,” Larsen said. “He’ll be a pleasure for the people in Lenox I’m absolutely certain.”

Ketchen says his primary responsibility will be maintaining the quality services provided by town departments. He plans to provide an organizational management plan to the Selectmen within the next two months.

“Setting an overall organizational direction for them so that they can conduct the people’s business in a way that the citizens and as professionals we can all be proud,” Ketchen said.

Ketchen takes on the job at a busy time with annual town meeting set for May 1. Previously, Ketchen’s position was being handled by town Director of Administrative Services Mary Ellen Deming and Jeffrey Vincent for the past 10 months. After 14 years, previous Town Manager Gregory Federspiel left for a similar position in Manchester-by-the-Sea. With Lenox being a summertime tourist destination and a warm weather home for many in the town of roughly 5,000, Ketchen says his usual busy schedule from September to June gets flipped on its head.

“We live in a place where other people save 50 weeks out of the year so that they can spend two weeks here so who are we to be unhappy,” he said. “We live in a wonderful area with wonderful cultural amenities and a community where folks really care about each other. It’s just tremendous. You can’t put a price tag on that quality of life and it’s just a wonderful place to grow up and I’m looking to forward to raising my own family here.”

Ketchen, who signed a three-year contract with the town, says his long-term vision for Lenox is much like the one he has set for his own life.

“A good place to raise children and a family,” Ketchen said. “We want them to be well-educated, we want them to be safe, we want them to have relationships and we want to have relationships of our own that are deep and meaningful. Recognizing of course that we are all mortal so we want to have a community that values and cares for one another as we age and get older and the challenges that come along with that.”

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org
Related Content