Patrick Taps Official To Be Lawrence Overseer

The Patrick administration has tapped the former mayor of Taunton to serve as overseer of cash-strapped Lawrence.

Robert Nunes will work with Lawrence city officials to help address the city's deficit and create a financing plan bringing fiscal stability.

The overseer's post was mandated in a state law allowing the former mill city to float up to $35 million in bonds to re-order its finances.

Gov. Deval Patrick calls Nunes "the right person to make Lawrence strong for today and tomorrow."

Nunes says his upcoming priority is to meet with leaders of the city's 22 unions.

"It'll be an open dialogue," he said. "Mayor Lantigua and his team and myself will present to the leadership of the unions, like I said, the seriousness of what we are facing."

Nunes will continue to work for the administration. He most recently has served as the local services division director within the state Department of Revenue.

Before joining the Patrick-Murray Administration, he was the longest-serving mayor of Taunton. And in that capacity, Nunes helped lead the city out of two fiscal crises in 1992 and 2004.