BIDDEFORD — John Bubier announced Tuesday that on June 30 he’ll be stepping down as city manager ”“ a role he’s filled for the last 10 years. But that won’t spell the end of his involvement in the city’s government.

Bubier said Friday that he’ll continue to work for Biddeford in a lesser capacity. Specifically, he’s signed a contract, which extends through 2018, to become a special projects assistant to the mayor and the City Council, focusing on economic development in the downtown and mill district. Bubier said he’ll be working about 30 hours a week in his new role and earning about $75,000 a year ”“ roughly 41 percent less than he currently earns as city manager.

In an email Friday, Mayor Alan Casavant said the money for the new position will come mostly from tax increment financing but partially from “the general budgeting process … so there will be a budgetary adjustment.”

Bubier said there’s a need for the added position because Daniel Stevenson, the city’s director of economic and community development, currently has his hands full.

After the Maine Energy Recovery Co. plant shut down in 2012, Bubier said the city expected an uptick in economic activity, and that’s exactly what it got. And at this point, he said, in order to keep up with that activity, there needs to be more than one person managing it.

“We’re getting a really heavy surge in business, which is great. … You can’t not handle the activity when it comes to you,” said Bubier. “People get very upset if you don’t handle them right when they’re there. We built this momentum over the last 10 years, and we want to make sure that we don’t drop the ball.”

Bubier added that he won’t be working strictly on projects concerning the downtown. He’ll also have a hand in developing business and industrial parks, he said, like the one planned for the Elm Street properties the city purchased early this year from Richard Pate.

As far as finding a new city manager goes, Bubier said that process will likely take a few months, and he’s agreed to remain city manager until a new hire is put in place.

First, the City Council will select a company, such as the Maine Municipal Association, to hunt for suitable candidates, said Bubier. The company will then present its top choices to the council, he said, which will narrow the list down to five and eventually one.

Currently, if Bubier must take time off, Stevenson and Brian Phinney, the city’s environmental control officer, dually fulfill the role of city manager, and Bubier said he could see either one stepping into the position.

“They’re both very different. They’re both very competent,” he said.

Overall, Bubier, who turns 71 next week, said he’s very happy with how things are moving forward.

“This kind of brings me back,” he said of his new position, explaining that in the 1970s he worked in economic development in Portland, when the city was experiencing a transition “from the old Portland to the new Portland.”

“Hopefully this is the transitional time for the old Biddeford of Maine Energy to the new Biddeford,” he said.

Casavant said Bubier’s commitment to staying at City Hall for the next few years ensures Biddeford will keep moving in the right direction.

“With more development possibilities in the hopper, I want to ensure that the city actualizes those possibilities,” he said, “and I think that losing John’s expertise and connections would have made things more difficult. … The council and I are very thrilled about his willingness to continue working for the city, and ultimately we will all benefit by what will happen here in the upcoming years.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].