Tisbury selectmen signed a three-year contract this week with their new town administrator John W. Grande.

Mr. Grande, who is 53, will begin work in the top town administrative post on March 13.

At a selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, board chairman Tristan Israel said the selectmen had met twice in executive session to review and settle the contract, and now “have a contract that’s amicable.”

The two selectmen present, Mr. Israel and Jonathan Snyder, signed the contract Tuesday evening. Mr. Grande traveled to the Island on a morning ferry Wednesday to sign the contract at the town hall . He will be paid an annual salary of $102,667.

Selected from a final field of three candidates last month, Mr. Grande has worked for the past 16 years as planning board director for the city of Framingham. He said yesterday he is “anxious and excited” to begin his new position.

Mr. Grande said he will relocate from Framingham to Oak Bluffs where he will rent a home; under the new contract the town administrator must establish residency on the Island within three months of his start date.

Mr. Grand takes over from previous town administrator John Bugbee, who resigned in September after nine years on the job.

The four-month search for a replacement concluded in February. The selectmen said Mr. Grande stood out as a longtime planner who could juggle multiple projects as well as different committees, departments and personalities. “He’s going to come in, get the lay of the land, and listen,” Mr. Israel said Tuesday. “That’s smart.”