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SPENCER – Peter Boria, superintendent of utilities and facilities, will be leaving his position in Spencer to become Auburn’s assistant director of the department of public works.
His last day is Friday, February 13.
At a recent selectmen’s meeting, the board appointed Gary Kellaher as interim superintendent. Kellaher had served in that capacity prior to Boria’s appointment in September 2023.
“Gary is the guy,” Town Administrator Jeff Bridges said at the meeting. “He’s done a lot of work for a lot of towns and I think we’d benefit from his transitional and interim services.”
Boria looked back at some of the accomplishments that he has been a part of during his tenure. He noted they were done with help from various people and town departments. The projects included:
- Reconstruction on Pleasant Street and Smithville Road as well as Meadow Road;
- Resurfacing of portions of Maple Street, East Charlton Road, Wire Village Road and Hastings Road;
- Paving of parking lots at town hall, the senior center and fire and police stations;
- Completion of the library roof project; and
- Building of the new salt shed.
Boria said that he worked on the Complete Streets Grant to upgrade sidewalks on Ash Street from Main Street to Cherry Street.
He also worked with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on the route 9 road reconstruction project and helped the water department obtain a $1.1 million grant to replace water lines within the scope of that project.
Also in collaboration with MassDOT, Boria cited replacing the bridge on North Spencer Road near St. Joseph’s Abbey and resurfacing five miles of route 31 North from Meadow Road to the Paxton town line as other efforts in which he played a role.
“I want to thank all of the people for their support while I was here,” Boria said.
Prior to coming to Spencer, Boria served as the water and sewer superintendent in Charlton.
At the meeting, Kellaher spoke about his career such as 25 years at the Turnpike Authority, which included the role of highway maintenance operations. He also held full-time positions in Sherburne and Rutland, retiring in 2018.
Since his retirement, Kellaher has worked on an interim basis in West Boylston, Rutland (interim town administrator), Spencer and Brookfield.
“I’m very familiar with Peter,” Kellaher said. “We worked together in the transition process. He is a good man and he knows the drill…He knows what he is talking about.”
