Double duty: Mike Tully to serve as town administrator for North Hampton, New Castle

NEW CASTLE — Mike Tully’s workload is expanding as he will now serve as the town administrator for both North Hampton and New Castle.

The New Castle Select Board recently announced the appointment of Tully, who has been North Hampton’s town administrator since 2020.

New Castle Select Board Chairman William Stewart said the seaside community has been experiencing “growing pains” in recent years, leading to the need for a town administrator.

The board, he said, previously performed all administrative duties. He said they have come to realize it would be beneficial to have someone on call with specific expertise to whom the town’s employees could turn when issues arose.

“This is a totally new thing for New Castle,” Stewart said.

Initially, he said, the board hired a temporary consultant to assume town administrator duties through Municipal Resources, Inc., but that was getting expensive, and they felt they needed to explore other options.

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How Mike Tully got the job

Stewart said board members sought the opinions of others for possible solutions to its manager needs, which is when Tully’s name was mentioned.

“His name popped up as someone who was doing the job,” Stewart said. “We reached out to him.”

At first, Stewart said, New Castle looked for advice from Tully. But then, “one thing led to another,” and the New Castle Board met with North Hampton’s Select Board to see how they felt about Tully taking a hands-on role in New Castle, while keeping his full-time job in North Hampton.

“North Hampton’s board viewed it as helping us out,” Stewart said. “They were very gracious.”

“We see this as another opportunity to collaborate with a neighboring community in ways that could benefit both towns, as we have seen with regionalization efforts in other areas,” said North Hampton Select Board Member James Sununu.

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New responsibilities will not impact North Hampton

Sununu said they expect Tully to continue to “fulfill all of his responsibilities to North Hampton without interruption,” in addition to helping New Castle.

“He will be adding additional hours to his schedule to take on this part-time effort with New Castle,” Sununu said, “not taking away from the hours he currently works for North Hampton.”

The description is Stewart’s understanding also, he said, adding that New Castle’s Select Board is “pretty flexible.” They have already illustrated that flexibility by changing their monthly board meetings to Tuesdays, instead of Mondays, when North Hampton meets.

Stewart said, along with the usual management tasks, the board is looking for recommendations from Tully on ways to improve the administration of New Castle, which has an annual operating budget of about $2.5 million. It has small but full-time police and fire departments, he said, as well as other employees who see to town services, in addition to its school. It also has a closed Town Hall, due to a mold problem, he said.

“We’d like him to help us envision how to better administrate New Castle,” Stewart said. “To find out what New Castle needs.”

Tully will be paid an hourly rate, based on the number of hours he puts in, according to Stewart.

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Tully looking forward to serving North Hampton, New Castle

Tully feels he can address both positions without North Hampton witnessing any lack of attention. He’ll start next week, so he can meet with the MRI consultant before he leaves in an organized hand-off. Confirming that being a town administrator “isn’t just an 8 to 4 job,” Tully thinks handling the workload is doable.

Tully said he also felt helping a neighboring community was the right thing to do. This year, he said, when North Hampton found itself in need because a majority of its police officers left to take jobs elsewhere, other communities came to its aid, allowing their officers to take shifts to protect North Hampton residents.

“Look how many other towns helped us,” Tully said. “This is what you do when your neighbors reach out and ask for help.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: North Hampton NH administrator Mike Tully to lead New Castle, too