The Martha’s VIneyard Commission (MVC) last Thursday picked Adam Turner of Old Saybrook, Conn., to be the regional planning and permitting agency’s next executive director.
Mr. Turner, town planner for Colchester, Conn., was one of four finalists for the position, with Bradford Washburn of Boston; Deborah Melino-Wender of Newport, R.I.; and Peter Temple of Aquinnah. The original applicant pool numbered 33.
Following interviews, and an initial set of straw votes, the commissioners evenly split 5 to 5 between Mr. Washburn, currently assistant director of the state Office of Coastal Zone Management, and Mr. Turner. MVC Chairman Fred Hancock broke the tie.
“I think everybody felt that both candidates were very well qualified,” Mr. Hancock told The Times Friday. “I think it came down somewhat to a matter of personality.”
Mr. Hancock said he was very impressed with Mr. Turner’s enthusiasm and experience: “He seemed to have an exuberance that I really appreciated, and the other candidate, in comparison perhaps, was much more understated.”
The vote to hire Mr. Turner was unanimous, 11-0, a reflection, Mr. Hancock said, of the view that both men were well qualified for the job. “All I can say is I’m humbled by the commission’s decision, and am prepared to work hard to live up to their faith in me,” Mr. Turner said in an email to The Times.
Asked about his links to the Vineyard, Mr. Turner said, “I have been to the Vineyard many times, from my days in college to last summer.”
Mr. Turner said his family figured large in his decision to seek the job. “I feel Martha’s Vineyard will be a great place to work, as I told the commission, but also we look forward to being part of the community. I think my family will love and enjoy living here. That is a major reason I applied.”
Mr. Turner will replace Mark London, executive director since 2002, who will retire on August 1. Mr. London earns $128,224 annually. The next step is to negotiate a contract with Mr. Turner. The MVC set a salary range for its new director in “the low to mid one hundreds.”
Mr. Turner’s professional career spans 30 years, and includes extensive coastal management work in island environments that include the Florida Keys and Northern Marianas.
For the past seven years, Mr. Turner has been town planner for Colchester, where much of his focus has been on land-use regulation.
“I have worked with town leadership to create a planning division that has become a model in development responses to identified issues,” he said in his cover letter. “For example, we developed new development regulations that are both form/design based as well as focused on the protection of the rural character.”
Mr. Turner said he grew up in New England and returned several years ago to take care of his parents. “I have two children, and look to remain in a location as they grow up and work through the school system,” he said.
The new executive director will preside over an agency with an operating budget of $1.5 million. Salaries and employee benefits, which include the cost of funding retirement benefits, lay claim to the largest share, $1.1 million of the MVC budget. The commission has 10 staff members. The bulk of the MVC’s income comes from Dukes County taxpayers, through town assessments based on property tax valuation. All seven towns in Dukes County, which includes Gosnold, share the cost of planning, according to their relative property valuation.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Old Saybrook as New Saybrook, Conn.