Maryanne Crawford is retiring. The finance director for Barrington for the last two years said she has enjoyed her time working in Barrington, and realized recently that she was ready to step down. 

“I started getting these feelings,” Crawford said. “I started saying ‘You know, I’ve been at this a while. Do I want to continue with this?’ My husband officially retired in January, and I think that was part of it. 

“I think someone finally said to me, ‘So have you thought about retirement?’ And I'm like, ‘Hmm, interesting.’”

Crawford said those thoughts of possible retirement matured into a confirmation that the time had come for her to step away from the full-time working world. She shared her retirement letter with Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey a few weeks ago. Hervey praised Crawford’s work with the community.

Crawford has been working in municipal or school finance for four decades. She worked as finance director for East Greenwich and South Kingstown public schools, and as finance director and town administrator on Block Island and in Jamestown. 

Crawford said she has been working in the field for so long that she believes it is going to be pretty difficult stepping away from the work and into retirement full-time. 

“Yeah, it's part of my persona. Without a doubt, it has been,” she said.

“…And don't get me wrong, we will be traveling, some stuff like that, but I also know I can't stop on a dime, right? That it's going to be a downshift, you’ve got a downshift. I'll have to downshift and find a delicate balance to what that downshift is.”

Crawford said volunteering or part-time work will very likely become part of her retirement activities. She said she will likely try to find a role on her community’s budget committee, and also spend time helping seniors with their taxes. 

Crawford said she is not ready to abandon a field that she has always been interested in. Even when she was a child, she had a focus in finance. It started with a paper route, she said, and continued to blossom as she grew up.

She said it just clicked for her. Her freshman year in high school she was asked to write a paper about a career — she wrote hers on finance. She graduated from Bryant University and when she finished with school, she moved directly into finance. She loves what she does, Crawford said.

“It's been a phenomenal ride,” she said. “It's been an absolutely fun ride.”

Crawford said she will cherish the relationships she has made with co-workers and others in the community. 

“You know, the team here is wonderful,” Crawford said. “And what I've told folks, and I not only say it here, I've said it in other communities also…In my opinion, my humble opinion, the biggest asset of this community is not like the shopping center. The biggest asset of this community is its employees.

“I find no matter where I worked, all town employees are here to serve people from the community, and they really, really take that to heart.”

On the issues

Crawford, who will officially retire at the end of the calendar year, offered some of her thoughts on local issues facing Barrington, including the switch from financial town meeting (FTM) to financial town referendum (FTR). 

• FTR: She said it was time for the town to move to an FTR. She said the FTR allows for people to get involved throughout the budget process and have a voice in the process. 

• Crawford also said Barrington is in a very strong financial position as a community. “The town is really in great shape, fiscally,” she said. “It really is.”

• Capital reserve account: “I give this community credit because they really have addressed their capital needs,” Crawford said.

• New trash collection system: “Anytime you do anything new, there's always, um, not hiccups, but it's a process,” said Crawford. “It's a process.” She said residents will look back in a few years and be pleased with the change. Crawford said that neither of the towns she led as town manager offered trash pickup to its residents.