The Town of Hamilton would like to wish a very happy retirement to Patrick Reffett, Director of Planning & Inspectional Services, who will step-down after an approximately 40-year career in community planning, including positions serving municipalities, the Commonwealth, and in the private sector.
A native of the Southeastern United States, Reffett began his career working in real estate development in the Dallas-Fort Worth Region. He is a 1981 graduate of the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Design and has completed multiple continuing education courses at Harvard Graduate School of Design and MIT. Reffett moved to Massachusetts in 1987 to work on urban redevelopment efforts for the City of Somerville after completing his Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Texas A&M University. He would go on to serve as Somerville’s Community Development Director, the first of several similar such positions in his long career. Reffett has served as a Planning or Community Development Director for five municipalities in the Commonwealth, including for the Cities of Newburyport, Somerville and Salem and for the Towns of Hamilton and Natick. He has also worked in private practice, for a Somerville-based civil engineering firm, and for the Commonwealth as a supervisor of alternate transportation projects.
Reffett noted his work assisting in the permanent preservation of the John J. Donovan Reservation & Sagamore Hill Conservation Area, a 269-acre conservation tract spanning the Towns of Hamilton and Essex, as his favorite project during his time in Hamilton. A successful $5.1 million community fundraising campaign led to the permanent protection of the reservation, which provides for expansive recreational opportunities and links directly with other conservation sites in Hamilton, Essex, and Ipswich totaling 525 acres in sum.
“Patrick’s steady leadership of the planning and inspections divisions for the last ten years helped steer administrative goals toward more professionalism in the way we provide services to residents,” said Town Manager Joe Domelowicz. “Patrick has been one of a core of proactive, professional department heads in town who exemplified collaborative leadership between departments in the pursuit of serving others. Though we are sorry to see him go, we are happy to be able to celebrate his career of accomplishment, especially the impact for Hamilton.”
Asked what he will pursue in retirement, Reffett replied that he is most looking forward to having additional flexibility with his time and tending to “a lot of things I’ve ignored in the last 40 years,” including travel, fishing, being outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.
Hamilton’s new Director of Planning and Development, who started in late October, is Mark Connors. Reffett’s last day is Friday, November 15, 2024.
