MONTAGUE — The Selectboard has executed a contract with Assistant Town Administrator Walter Ramsey, who is slated to take over as town administrator for Steve Ellis starting July 1.

The Selectboard started gearing up for the hiring process after Ellis announced in November his plans to step down at the end of the fiscal year from the position he has held for seven years.

“It is essentially the same contract that we have with Steve,” Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz said at Monday’s meeting, adding that a simple typographical error was fixed.

Kuklewicz explained Ramsey will go up in job grade and his salary will reflect this.

Ramsey expressed his gratitude to Selectboard members for their confidence in him.

“Thank you for your faith in me,” he said, “and I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve you all.”

Ellis was appointed to his position in December 2016, following the retirement of predecessor Frank Abbondanzio. Before joining Montague’s municipal staff, he had been the director of the Applied Research and Program Evaluation group (ARPE) at the UMass Donahue Institute in Hadley, where he worked for at least 20 years.

In November, Ellis explained his decision to step down as town administrator was fueled by a feeling that he should “address some other opportunities that are really, really important” to him.

“I came to Montague with a desire to do work that would have a greater and more direct impact on our community,” he recalled at the time, “and that is exactly the opportunity this job gave to me.”

Ramsey, who had been Montague’s town planner, accepted the assistant town administrator job in the summer of 2022, following a unanimous vote by the Selectboard.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.