Billerica Select Board Appoints Acting Town Manager Dillon to Permanent Role

BILLERICA — September 6, 2025 — Billerica Select Board votes 3-1-1 to appoint acting Town Manager Christopher Dillon as permanent Town Manager. The board made the appointment at a September 6 special meeting following back-to-back interviews with four finalists recruited by search firm MRI, capping a process that began roughly in April under a 13-member community screening committee chaired by resident Michael Riley. Dillon, who has held the acting role for approximately four months, previously served as Town Manager of Salem, New Hampshire, for about six years, where he brought the town to a AAA bond rating and reduced the residential tax rate from $6.60 to $5.48 per thousand. He told the board he would not tap Billerica's more than $20 million in excess levy capacity to fund a capital pipeline that includes a new fire station, DPW facility, potential middle school, and police facility upgrades, saying instead, "My goal is to stop chipping away at it." The vote drew procedural objections from Select Members Darius O'Connor and Barbara Fauvreau, both of whom criticized the board for moving to a formal motion before completing a candidate-by-candidate deliberation; Fauvreau abstained and O'Connor voted against, while Vice Chair John Burroughs, who made the motion, and Select Member Andrew Rosa, who seconded it, along with a third member voted in favor.