Matthew Lanefski of Framingham, assistant assessor in Wayland for the past two years, is scheduled to begin work as director of Bedford’s Assessing Department on Wednesday.
The Board of Assessors voted on April 13, immediately after interviewing Lanefski, to offer him the position. Town Manager Sarah Stanton said he accepted last week.
“He comes highly recommended. I’m really looking forward to having him on board,” Stanton said Friday. She was on a three-member search committee, along with board Chair Bruce Murphy and Colleen Doyle, assistant town manager for human resources and administration.
The position has been vacant for more than a year-and-a-half, thanks to a shortage of qualified candidates, said Murphy. During the interim, the office has been assisted by James Doherty of Burlington’s Assessing Department. He will continue to help with the short-term transition.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Lanefski began in Wayland in April 2019, following six-and-a-half years as a field assessor in Framingham. He said he prefers to work in a smaller community. The position of director of assessing in Wayland has been vacant for several months; Lanefski said it appears that the town wants to “farm it out.”
Asked during his interview what he would like to accomplish in the position, Lanefski said he wants “to see how things are running overall before charging in to do anything big.” He said he hopes “to see how smooth the inspections are, is the data good quality, how the office is functioning.”
Lanefski said professionally he wants “to deepen some of my knowledge of analysis involved in valuation. Commercial work always interested me.” He said he found it “intriguing” that a town the size of Bedford has tax classification.
According to a 2018 departmental review by the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, “the assessing office is responsible for valuing all real and personal property in town and generating the commitments that authorize the finance director as treasurer-collector to collect real estate taxes, betterments, and motor vehicle excises. The assessors annually review property assessments to ensure they reflect full and fair cash value.”
The office also “directs Patriot Properties, Inc. to complete cyclical revaluations of residential, commercial, and industrial properties but handles interim adjustments itself in house.”
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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