The Municipal Light Commission created a selection subcommittee Monday, charged with selecting three candidates for the MLC to interview for the position of general manager.
This subcommittee will consist of two Commission members, one Select Board member, one Municipal Light Department member and the Town’s HR manager. Those selected were: Commission Vice Chair Simon Frechette, Commission Secretary Adam Smith, Select Board member Alexa Singer, Light Department Distribution Manager Greg Chane and HR Manager Tom Howard.
According to Commission Chair Jean-Jacques Yarmoff, the subcommittee will begin meeting after the application deadline, which is May 26 at 5 p.m. The call for candidates began May 2.
Yarmoff is unsure how long it will take the subcommittee to flip through over 55 applications, but he guessed this matter will be brought back to the Commission after the June 10 election. This would allow a full, five member Commission to interview candidates and make decisions together
Monday’s meeting also focused on the potential usage of artificial intelligence, which Yarmoff said would ultimately be up to the general manager to decide to implement. The Commission listened to a presentation by Solangel Fernandez, who represented the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Fernandez walked the Commission through the software she had created, which showed different avenues where AI could potentially assist the Light Department.
“We take a lot of time to review documents and data, but AI can review a whole library in one minute, so we have to learn how to work with it and use it to our benefit,” she said.
While no collaborative decisions were made to definitively use AI in the future, the Commission and current general manager showed interest in the concept.
