Politics is Local, and So is Tony Barletta

There’s never a simple path, but when you accomplish something and people appreciate it, there’s nothing like it.”

The town of Nahant, where Manchester’s new Town Administrator, Antonio “Tony” Barletta, grew up, may be just a stone’s throw from Boston—a mere eight miles northeast of the city as the crow flies—but it’s small.  Surprisingly small.

At just 3,334 residents, Nahant is the smallest municipality in Essex County by both population and land area (about one square mile).  Barletta has spent the last seven years serving as Town Administrator in Nahant, managing the town’s $17 million budget, its staff and departments, and ensuring compliance with state laws and regulations.

On July 1, he succeeded veteran administrator Greg Federspiel, who retired after 12 years in the position.  In Manchester, everything will be bumped up a bit.  A bigger budget, staff, a regionalized school district, to name just a few items.  But anyone who assumes Barletta is a small-town administrator coming to serve in the same role here in Manchester would be wrong, dead wrong.

Before Nahant, Barletta’s instincts were honed by years working the corridors of Beacon Hill.  Now, at 37, Barletta is stepping into Manchester’s top job with the ease of a seasoned State House player and the grounding of a small-town manager—someone fluent in policy briefs, the relationship game, and community needs.

“It’s never boring,” Barletta said of local municipal management.  “As challenging as it is, the successes significantly outweigh the challenges. There’s never enough time, there’s never a simple path, but when you accomplish something and people appreciate it, there’s nothing like it.”

Small town start, wide-angle view

For Barletta, who was raised in a large, close-knit Italian family, the small-town feel wasn’t just background noise—it was formative.

His father emigrated from Calabria, Italy, and his mother is a second-generation Italian American.  Most of his extended family still lives in the North of Boston.  He attended the neighboring Swampscott High School before pursuing a degree in criminal justice from Endicott College.

It was during his senior year at Endicott that Barletta discovered his passion for public service after he was given two choices for a mandatory internship—law or government.  Barletta chose government … and got the bug.  His senior thesis focused on “pay-as-you-throw” trash policies in Massachusetts—a topic that unexpectedly sparked his interest in municipal operations.  That path led him to an internship and then a full-time job with the regional AFL-CIO office, where he served as a legislative aide, and then, it was off to the Massachusetts State House.

A career in policy and persistence

Barletta served as a research analyst and then rose to chief of staff for then MA Rep. Anne Gobi (D-Worcester), Chair of the Environmental Affairs Committee. He later became Director of Government Affairs and Deputy Chief of Staff at the MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) during the Deval Patrick administration.  After a few years, he was elevated to the Department of Energy Resources within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as Director of Government Affairs and Deputy Chief of Staff. There, Barletta oversaw constituent services, the Green Communities Program, and advocated for agency funding as well as major energy legislation within a complex network that included DCR, the Dept. of Environmental Protection, and the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Oh yes, and during that time he also attended night school, earning a master’s degree in Public Affairs from UMass in Boston.

“On the state side of things, I learned about relationships and the importance of them,” he said.

Despite his upward trajectory in state government, municipal work felt like a natural pivot.  In 2018, the opportunity to go home presented itself, and Barletta returned to his hometown to serve as Town Administrator in Nahant.  The prospect was immediately appealing.  Even during his time at state jobs at DCR or in the State House, he always stayed close to Nahant, looking out for the local impact of state actions and finding ways to help or offer guidance to the community that raised him.

“When you grow up in a small community like Nahant, it defines who you are,” he said.  And when he learned of the TA opportunity in Nahant, he wanted in. “I wanted to be there.”

Much of the job was new, like budgets.  But much more was not, like understanding grants, mediation, contract negotiations, state funding and regulations.  Two months after the start of his job, Nahant held its Annual Town Meeting and it was a blur getting there.  After that, everything that followed fell right into place.

A new chapter in MBTS

Manchester’s $40 million annual budget, regional school district, and integration into a cohesive region of Cape Ann’s municipalities presents a wider scope.  For Barletta, who now lives in Beverly with his wife, Laura—an attorney and former Essex County prosecutor—and their two children, that challenge is welcome.

He knows the vocabulary of town governance, and the issues, and most importantly, the context.  Barletta understands how a community like Manchester fits within Cape Ann, and how Cape Ann fits within Essex County and Eastern Massachusetts.

“I don’t know the people yet, but there are big issues, and I look forward to tackling them. But it’s not a foreign language to me,” he said.  Barletta’s also excited about the staff at Town Hall, whom he began meeting with throughout June as he shadowed Greg Federspiel.

After his first day, Barletta did what comes naturally to him: he wasted no time building relationships.  His first meeting was with Essex Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki.  That was followed by more administrator meetings with Hamilton’s Joe Domelowicz, Danvers’ Jill Cahill, Swampscott’s Gino Cresta, and Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga.  Then there was the business of reconnecting with “the delegation” including MA Sen. Bruce Tarr and Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante.

Meeting the bigger challenges

No doubt, Barletta’s arrival marks a generational and professional shift. His experience is shaped by high-level policy roles and urban-coastal management challenges. Greg Federspiel, by contrast, brought a deep grounding in small-town governance, focused stability, and strategic planning, with steady leadership on capital improvements. Barletta inherits a solid foundation—but also an accelerating pace of issues and expectations. “The employees of this Town are extremely dedicated and I am so appreciative of their welcomeness,” he said.

He is also inheriting big challenges ahead for Manchester, including the Central Street culvert replacement, the FY27 MERSD Budget, the upcoming renovation of the Masonic Hall to create a new Senior Center, PFAS mitigation in Manchester’s water system, downtown revitalization and zoning reform, moving the needle even a little on Affordable Housing, and planning for a new DPW Facility and Police/Fire headquarters. These are no small tasks. But Barletta likes it that way.

“There’s a satisfaction in a tangible outcome that you can see and feel,” he said. “You get more of that at the municipal level.”

And, as if on schedule, Barletta’s first day coincided with a big disruption—the Teamsters strike in 14 North Shore communities impacting Republic Services, which provides all of Manchester’s municipal waste removal. 

It immediately tested his crisis management skills.  Barletta and DPW Director Chuck Dam have connected  daily with Republic.  Barletta, for his part, followed his experience and began coordinating with mayors and fellow Town Administrators across Cape Ann.

and the North Shore.