Stoughton's Procurement Officer Latest Department Head to Announce Resignation

Lindsay Pope, Stoughton's Acting Chief Procurement Officer, has submitted a letter of resignation, effective Aug. 3, 2012, she told Stoughton Patch.

Pope has served as the centralized purchasing officer for the Town since being hired in October of 2011.

"I don't have any comment; I'm just trying to leave quietly," she said. 

Shortly after being hired Pope soon found herself as one of the central figures in the between the town and the school department. 

Pope departs to become the procurement officer for another Boston-area community. 

According to her bio, Pope "has worked for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Department of Revenue, UMASS Boston, and the Town of Stoughton all in procurement and contract management roles over the past 5 years. She has specialties in municipal procurement with an MCPPO (Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official) certification. Lindsay has been asked to be the newest member of the Board of Directors for the Southeast Regional Services Group (SERSG) starting in September and has been an active member of the Massachusetts Association for Public Purchasing Officials (MAPPO) as well where she is part of the legislative team. Lindsay also is part of the Department of Capital Asset Management's (DCAM) Construction Law Working Group and the Operational Services Division's (OSD) MassBuys Comm-Pass Panel and Comm-Pass Bidding Contract Awarding Team."

Pope also donates her time to charity events from the Stoughton Food Pantry to Gift of Life Bone Marrow Donor Swabbing, according to her bio, and does research for Northeastern University's Political Science Department at no cost (she graduated from there with a dual degree in Political Science and Sociology), runs half marathons on occasion, and blogs about vegan food on the weekends.

Interim Town Manager Joseph Feaster declined to discuss a matter of personnel.

Board of Selectmen Chairman John Stagnone said he would "like to wish her well and hope she is happy where she ends up." 

Pope becomes the latest town department head to leave in the last few months, joining former and former . Before that, , leaving his post at the end of March 2012.

Stagnone said there was not a cause for concern with the recent vacancies and that the town is looking for replacements. He said these departures were the result of employees relocating closer to home or taking higher positions in town government.

"That's why I'm not concerned....there is no [negative] trend," he said. "Working for the town is not a problem." 

Stagnone said the town was still a great place to work.

Stagnone added that while the original plan was to wait until after a permanent town manager had been hired to fill the human resources vacancy, "the need is too great to wait" so that position will be advertised shortly. The purchasing agent position will also be advertised, he said. 

The town is currently in the process of searching for a permanent town manager as well.