The Biddeford City Council is expected to vote Tuesday to appoint a new city manager.

The new manager will replace John Bubier, who is stepping down after leading the city for a decade. Bubier will continue to work part time for the city on economic development projects.

City officials would not release the name of the top candidate before the City Council meets in executive session to finalize the details of a new contract. The council is expected to vote to approve the contract after the executive session, said Mayor Alan Casavant.

The new manager will take over at a time of historic transition for the former mill town, where the downtown mill complex is being rapidly redeveloped for residential, commercial and light industrial uses. The manager also will take over the city’s top administrative position in the midst of a state investigation into sexual abuse allegations against a former city police officer that has stirred pressure to suspend the police chief and dominated city meetings in recent months.

The city hired consulting firm Eaton Peabody to help with the search shortly after Bubier, 70, announced in March that he intended to resign. The Personnel Committee – composed of city councilors John McCurry, Roger Hurtubise, Michael Ready and Stephen St. Cyr – reviewed the resumes of applicants and conducted six interviews with prospective managers, Casavant said.

The entire City Council met with the finalist and will do so again Tuesday before voting, Casavant said.

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Casavant did not know how many people applied for the position, but said many applicants lacked the city manager experience the council was seeking.

“It’s important to have city manager experience because you’re managing multiple departments with a lot of people. You have to be fluent in all types of state and federal law,” he said. “Sometimes people don’t understand the complexity of that particular position. To me, having someone who is experienced as a city manager means there are things they don’t have to learn on the job.”

Bubier has said he will help with the transition to a new city manager.

As city manager, Bubier is paid $128,000 a year. The new manager’s salary has not been announced.

Bubier oversees nearly 300 full- and part-time employees and a combined municipal and school budget of about $75 million. He will be paid $75,000 in his newly created 30-hours-a-week position in the economic development office.

Biddeford is one of three southern Maine cities in the midst of a transition in the top administrative position.

Portland this month hired Jon Jennings, the assistant city manager in South Portland. Jennings, who starts at Portland City Hall on July 13, has never been a city manager but has experience and connections in the business community.

And Saco’s city administrator, Richard Michaud, has announced he will retire at the end of the year.


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