Top Mayoral Staff Member Moving on Rodrigues Departing for New Role in Sudbury

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

After more than six years as the Mayoral Chief of Staff in Everett and nearly eight years as an Everett employee overall, Melissa (Murphy) Rodrigues is taking the next step in her career and moving on to Sudbury, where she has been chosen as the town’s next Town Manager.

“Melissa has been a valued and trusted employee of the City for many years,” said Mayor Carlo DeMaria. “And while she will be greatly missed, I wish her success and happiness in this new opportunity for personal and professional growth.”

“The pending departure of our Chief of Staff is another indication of how hard it is for the City of Everett to compete with other communities and the salaries they can offer in order to retain quality department heads and senior personnel.”

According to published reports in the MetroWest Daily News, Rodrigues was the unanimous choice of Sudbury Selectmen last Thursday night as they sought to replace highly regarded municipal manager Maureen Valente, who left the post last winter to take a job in the Baker administration.

Rodrigues could not be reached in time for comment this week, but a source told the Independent that Rodrigues has entered contract negotiations with the Sudbury Board of Selectmen and is likely to leave for her new position in early to mid-October.

Rodrigues was elevated to her position as Chief of Staff and General Counsel in Mayor Carlo DeMaria’s administration in 2009, after ably filling in for the previous Chief of Staff. Prior to that she had worked for one year as Assistant City Solicitor. As Chief of Staff in Everett she has been a key policy advisor to DeMaria and has frequently been called upon to respond to and inform the City Council of the Mayor’s plans, policies and projects. A role she told Sudbury officials had prepared her for the challenges of municipal management.

“I don’t think it will be a big transition” Rodrigues told the Sudbury Selectmen. “I’m an administrator now in my current role…we may have different forms of government but we still have the same inherent goals, the same inherent operations.”

In winning her new position, Rodrigues beat out two current town administrators as a finalist and a field of 37 applicants overall.

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