(Left to right: Select Board member Doug Lucente, Town Manager Steve Bartha). Photo posted by the town of Lexington on Facebook in Nov. 2024 when Bartha was hired to be Lexington’s Town Manager. / Source: Town of Lexington

Update (April 15, 2026): Lexington’s town manager, Steve Bartha, who has lead the town since the fall of 2024, interviewed for the same role in Ipswich, MA, this spring. Bartha was one of two finalists up for the job (the third finalist withdrew from consideration). Ipswich’s Select Board voted to hire Brendan Sweeney, the assistant town administrator and finance director for Boxford, MA, and Ipswich native.

Lexington Town Manager Steve Bartha is being considered for the open Town Manager position in Ipswich, a seaside town of about 14,000.

“I did decide to explore the Ipswich opportunity because it’s a community my family and I have longstanding ties to, and it’s a position I had considered pursuing previously,” Bartha told the Observer. “I want to be clear that I remain fully focused on my work in Lexington and on the many important initiatives currently underway here.”

On Monday, he told the Select Board “he was exploring the possibility in Ipswich and would be announced as a finalist that evening,” Select Board Chair Jill Hai told the Observer.

“Lexington is an outstanding community with a strong team, and I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to serve here since joining the team in 2024,” Bartha said. “The Ipswich process is still ongoing, and I’m approaching it thoughtfully, but nothing changes in my day-to-day commitment to Lexington in the meantime.”

Ipswich’s Select Board has been conducting “weeks of screening and interviews” and narrowed its search for a new town manager down to three candidates, including Bartha, an article posted by The Local News notes.

Bartha and the other two candidates will tour Ipswich and participate in community meet-and-greets in the coming weeks, that article says. 

Bartha became Lexington’s Town Manager in the fall of 2024. He replaced James Malloy, who served the town as manager for six years before retiring. 

“Opportunities like this occasionally come up in local government, and I felt it was reasonable to explore one in a community that has personal meaning for my family, but my focus remains on doing the job the Lexington community hired me to do,” Bartha said.

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1 Comment

  1. Is Steve Bartha really qualified to manage Lexington’s $320 million budget if he was deemed insufficiently qualified to manage Ipswich’s budget of just $32 million?

    I don’t think so.

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