EASTON — The town is getting a new town clerk — but not the person originally offered the job.

Kelly McElreath, who was named Town Clerk of the Year in 2015 by the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, said she decided shortly after she was offered the job in mid-January to stay in Upton, where she has been town clerk since 2001.

Instead, Walpole Town Clerk Danielle Sicard will take over as clerk in Easton Feb. 27, said Connor Read, who has been serving both as acting town clerk and acting town administrator.

“She was in the original applicant pool and highly rated by the screening committee,’’ Read said.

Sicard has been Walpole town clerk since February 2016 and was previously the clerk in Norton.

McElreath declined to comment on why she decided against Easton, saying she “preferred not to comment on the situation’’ there.

That situation has been messy, to put it mildly.

Longtime clerk Jeremy Gillis was fired in November, accused of failing to do his job, by Town Administrator David Colton. In mid-January, the Board of Selectmen suspended Colton, with pay, and started proceedings to fire him, saying he failed to supervise the town clerk.

Colton is challenging his suspension and has written a long defense of his tenure as Easton’s top administrator since 2006. He noted that he had received excellent evaluations from the selectmen as recently as six months ago. His contract expires June 30, 2018, when he plans to retire, he said.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seltzjohanna@gmail.com.