Ambrosino Being Considered for Top Position in Chelsea

Former Revere Mayor Tom Ambrosino is one of two finalists being considered for the Chelsea City Manager position.

Ambrosino was mayor of Revere from 2000 to 2011, and has been the executive director of the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in Boston since leaving the corner office here.

Reached by phone, Ambrosino indicated that out of respect for the process, he and the other candidate are not talking to the media except in upcoming public interviews.

The other finalist is former Portland (ME) City Manager Mark Rees, who also was previously the city manager of North Andover.

“I was very impressed with the whole field of candidates we had,” said Bernie Lynch, a former Lowell city manager who served on a committee that chose the finalists. “There was a good number of applications. We had about 30 who applied. Chelsea was very attractive for former mayors and municipal people. I was impressed with that.”

In Chelsea, popular former City Manager Jay Ash left the top position in January to assume duties as the state Secretary for Housing and Economic Development under Gov. Charlie Baker. That left a vacancy that has been deliberated since January.

Ambrosino worked for many years with Ash on joint projects, including Revere’s Technology and Enterprise District (TED). Ambrosino and Ash also worked together in the Metro Mayor’s Coalition, and Ambrosino forged close ties with Chelsea/Revere organizations like Roca.

The Chelsea City Council called on the Collins Center at UMass-Boston to conduct a search for candidates, and after a public planning and input process, took applications up until March 31.

At that time, a special Screening Committee was picked by the Chelsea City Council to go through the resumes and report finalist to the Chelsea City Council – who ultimately will pick the winner.

The Chelsea City Council is moving to set a schedule this week to conduct interviews and deliberate.

A decision is likely by the end of June, or perhaps in the beginning of July.