'Level-headed and not overbearing': Meet Berkley's new town administrator

BERKLEY — When Mark Stankiewicz becomes the new Berkley town administrator on Monday, Feb. 13, he'll be bringing with him over 30 years of municipal management experience spanning New England.

For the past 10 years, he's been the town administrator in Charlestown, Rhode Island. But he's also the former town manager in Stoughton, where he's been a resident since 2003, and where he helped with bringing IKEA, Target and municipal MWRA water to his town, he said.

In Rhode Island, he's the chairman of the Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust and a board member of the Rhode Island League of Cities & Town and he holds various offices with the Rhode Island City & Town Managers Association.

He said he has helped the town of Charlestown with natural disaster risk management analysis with an appropriate fund balance policy and introduced the town to drones for assessors mapping to determine coastline storm erosion, search and rescue as well as shark detection at the municipal beaches.

He got into this line of work by chance, he said.

He was working at UPS in Connecticut when he saw a town planning department posting for East Haddam. He got the job.

Then in the late 1980s, he became the assistant town manager in Killingly, Connecticut, then assistant city manager in Norwich, Connecticut. His first town manager's job was in 1993 in Webster, Massachusetts, followed by Stoughton, Plymouth and most recently Charlestown, Rhode Island.

Stankiewicz succeeds interim town administrator Kevin Partridge. Berkley selectmen tapped the retired Easton fire chief in July of 2022 to serve in an interim capacity while they searched for a permanent replacement for former Town Administrator Heather Martin-Sterling, who resigned abruptly in June of 2022.

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'This could be a good fit for me'

Stankiewicz found the town administrator's job in Berkley just as much by chance.

He was advertising for a Charlestown vacancy in the Massachusetts Municipal Association job listing when he saw the Berkley position posted.

"I said, 'This could be a good fit for me'," he recalled.

So why does he think he's the right person for the job?

"I've done a lot of good work as an administrator," he said. "I have knowledge of other municipalities and their operations that can benefit Berkley."

Why has he stayed in this work field for so long?

"I found I was good at it," he said. "I have the skill set that seems to work well for me in this job."

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He described his management style as a municipal administrator as "level-headed and not overbearing." His approach to the job, he said, is to be deliberate in his actions and to be a good steward for the town.

"The town is forever," he said. "Within the Town's history, we come and go, I want to provide some continuity between the town's present and future. That will be my goal in this job."

He believes a good town administrator should "let people in town hall do their jobs," he said.

"I am there to be a resource for them to go to and help them coordinate what resources they need to accomplish their tasks," he said.

He added, "I've worked with small towns of 6,000-8,000 people and towns up to 55,000 people. I have the experience, skills and am ready to start work here."

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Berkley's new town administrator is Mark Stankiewicz