Warm sendoff to ex-manager, now lawmaker

According to Tom Kennedy, he and his close friend Bob Forguites, the retired town manager of Springfield, are an "odd couple."
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150110/NEWS02/701109901

Photo by Len Emery Bob Forguites, center, talks to guests during a testimonial dinner Friday to honor his many years of service as Springfield town manager. Published January 10, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Moving up Springfield gives warm sendoff to ex-manager, now lawmaker By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — According to Tom Kennedy, he and his close friend Bob Forguites, the retired town manager of Springfield, are an “odd couple.” “I like to spend money,” said Kennedy, the top planner for the regional planning organization. “Bob hates to spend money. I love to plan. Bob hates to plan.” Kennedy said he aimed for the big picture, while Forguites liked to be precise and specific. Kennedy, the long-time executive director of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, toasted and gently roasted his friend Friday night during an open house in Forguites’ honor. The open house, hosted by Forguites’ son Adam, was in recognition of his father’s retirement as town manager after 16 years and the beginning of his new career as one of the town’s representatives to the state Legislature in Montpelier. Forguites was lauded as honest and hardworking, “a little cranky … and a little grumpy,” and tight with a dime, let alone $100. But he was praised for being a tough and fair negotiator, and loyal and dedicated to Springfield, its citizens and employees. Many people mentioned the fact that Forguites won the voters’ trust for 16 years straight with their support of the town budget with no defeats. Kennedy said over the years, he and Forguites had become very close friends, despite their obvious differences, through laughter and tears — the death of Forguites’ beloved wife Barbara. Kennedy said he remembered when Forguites started working for the town of Springfield, after an earlier career in finance and banking. He was the town’s comptroller for four years, before he was asked to step into the town manager’s role, a role he assumed reluctantly, several people recalled. At that time, Kennedy said, the town administration and Select Board were a bit “dysfunctional,” and there was a lack of trust in the town, and cynicism was common on people’s lips. By his actions, Kennedy said, “he brought back a sense of trust.” Kennedy told a story that he said summed up Forguites as a town manager and human being. Kennedy said he happened to be a Springfield Select Board meeting where a man “ripped into the town manager for four to five minutes.” The next morning, as luck would have it, Kennedy was waiting at Forguites’ office to talk to him, when who comes out of Forguites’ office, but the man from the night before. Forguites had invited his loud critic in to talk to try and solve the problems, Kennedy said. “That’s what Bob did. His door was always open,” Kennedy said. More than 120 people came to the open house at The Great Hall in the former Fellows Gear Shaper complex. Now called One Hundred River Street, Forguites was instrumental in keeping the old manufacturing building alive so its eventual developers could rehabilitate the sprawling building, said Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp. “Bob genuinely loves the town of Springfield,” said Flint, who said Forguites had been a mentor to him, a term echoed by several of the people who spoke. Flint and Kennedy said Forguites didn’t like the limelight or fanfare. He likes to be in the back of a room, Kennedy said, not the front. “Bob in his own quiet and pragmatic way, always found a way to make it work,” Flint said. Forguites was presented with a copy of the town seal by Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris and Selectwoman Stephanie Thompson, along with a town flag. Morris said Forguites was a mentor to him when he first was elected to the board. “Bob was a tremendous asset to the town. And his knowledge of the town is incredible.”