The Boston Globe reports that Billerica town manager William F. Williams resigned this morning after “peeving” selectmen by making negative remarks about the town at a Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce Municipal Breakfast:

He was … quoted as saying: “I look at [Billerica] as a town that needs a lot of work. I look harshly at Billerica as a place that seems to be in distress. When I look at it that way, I’m not demeaning you, I’m just saying that you don’t photograph well. You don’t have curb appeal.”

Marc Lombardo, the chairman of the board of selectmen, said, “I don’t think his comments worked to move the town forward.” If the popular sentiment in Billerica is to stand vigilant against a postcard-worthy town center, Lombardo is probably correct.

For what it’s worth, CommonWealth magazine executive editor Michael Jonas found something of a happy medium in Billerica when he reported from the suburb in 2006:

The families drawn here are neither those struggling at the edge nor the high-fliers whose outsized incomes feed an insatiable consumer appetite for the best and biggest of everything. In this land of the minivan and occasional backyard pool, the half-acre lots provide plenty of elbow room compared with more urbanized settings, but neighbors can still call out and talk to each other while working on the lawn.