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Grega Named New Human Services Director

At a Town Council meeting on July 3, Town Manager Michelle Benivegna announced the hiring of Kathy Grega as the town’s new human services director.

After exiting a lengthy executive session on June 19, the Town Council announced that a contract had been offered for a new director. A candidate was not named at the time.

Benivegna announced that Grega had officially accepted the offer at the July meeting. Grega will start on July 23, and her salary will be $90,000 a year per Benivegna, who added she was “thrilled” to announce Grega’s hire.

Per a job description, Grega will be charged with “… the planning, development, and delivery of social service programs as well as leading both clinical and prevention efforts of the Youth Service Bureau.” She will also be asked to direct, coordinate, and evaluate prevention and clinical programs that serve the needs of youth, families, and low-income citizens while additionally overseeing the department personnel, budgets, and grant administration.

Grega’s first day will come over a full year after former Human Services Director David Melillo retired on July 14, 2023. Since then, the department staff has been working without a full-time director.

The town’s lack of a human services director to guide the department was something that concerned many in town, especially considering Clinton’s well-documented struggles with youth suicide.

While the town began searching for a new director prior to Melillo’s retirement, it was a struggle to find the right candidate. Former Town Manager Karl Kilduff told the Harbor News in September 2023 “The challenge has been to find candidates that has the requisite skills, experience, and license/ certification as well as a desire to serve the public and see the value in that type of work.”

Grega’s hire is the latest in a string of moves to fill key vacancies in town. In the winter of 2024, the town was without a fulltime town manager, finance director, and human services director. However, in the last three months, the town has filled all three positions.