Stoughton Town Manager Resigns

The Stoughton town manager, Francis T. Crimmins Jr., left a judgeship in order to take the job as town manager. When he did so it came at a time when the residents of the town were looking to have the Police Department cleaned up because of recent scandals that wracked the town and harmed its reputation.

Crimmins resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday of this week after being appointed back in 2010. He helped see multiple key positions in the town filled during his brief, two-year stint, that helped to set the town on a new path.

One of the hires was for a new police chief, who started the same month as Crimmins. A new fire chief was hired along with a building commissioner, a treasurer-collector a town planner and a director of assessing.

“I’ve seen all the good he’s done with the restructuring, fixing problems and making things work better,” police Lt. Robert Devine, the department spokesman, said about Crimmins.

“I think it’s a loss for the town,” said Devine.

The majority of the town’s officials said that they were surprised when Crimmins announced his abrupt resignation. Selectmen Vice Chairwoman Cynthia Walsh said,

“I just felt he was growing frustrated with the position.”

Walsh saw the resignation letter from Crimmins, which was two sentences long, and said that it did not provide a reason as to why Crimmins was resigning. All it said was that he was “exercising the option in his contract.”

Crimmins is leaving the post as of March 31, according to Selectmen Chairman John Stagnone. Stagnone was not on the board when Crimmins was appointed to his position. Stagnone did say that Crimmins did an excellent job while in the position.

“His letter did not specify any reasons for his resignation. Today was the first I knew of anything,” Stagnone said.

“Frank has come in and put in place a lot of new procedures and has done a great job of enforcing them. He’s done a great job of organizing and reorganizing town hall,” said Stagnone. “We had a lot of retirements and he was instrumental in bringing some talented professionals to fill positions. We wish him luck in his new endeavors and thank him for his service.”

Devine went on to say that he was ‘disappointed’ to hear of the resignation by Crimmins because “he’s done a lot of good for the town.”

“I was surprised when I heard the news. I hadn’t heard anything about it before today,” he said.

Holly Boykin, the Finance Committee Chairwoman, also expressed shock at the news saying,

“I did think he was doing a good job,” she said. “He brought a lot of information to the town, he brought a lot of ideas forward.”