STANDISH — The Town Council voted 6-1 to approve the appointment of Bill Giroux to the position of town manager Tuesday, Nov. 13.

Giroux, the former city manager in Bath, has been serving as interim manager since September after former manager Kris Tucker was fired in July. Giroux will be paid $115,000 per year.

Councilor Peter Starostecki was the only council member who voted against Giroux’s appointment.

“I don’t have a problem with Bill. I think that he has the skillset to do a very good job, and I think he will serve Standish very well as long as this old boys club doesn’t get their teeth into them,” Starostecki said in an interview Wednesday.

Starostecki said the “old boys club” he referred to is made up of Councilors Greg Sirpis, Mike Delcourt and Kim Pomerleau.

“I’m not going to bend the knee to the old boys club and pretend that there’s a unified Town Council because it’s not unified whatsoever. It’s very fragmented,” he said.

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The other finalist for the manager position was Marian Anderson, who has been the Wiscasset town manager since 2014.

“Everybody on the council felt that both candidates were highly qualified to lead the town of Standish. In the end, Bill was chosen due to his vast experience and the overall knowledge that he has, and it was felt that he would be the best person as town manager for Standish at this time,” Council Chairman Steve Nesbitt said Wednesday.

Giroux’s first day in the position was Wednesday, Oct. 14. He signed a three-year contract, which Nesbitt said is the longest contract that can be granted per town charter.

Giroux said Wednesday that in the interim position, his job was to “kind of hold down the fort” but in the permanent position he can now get to work.

He said he would like to focus on property and staffing issues, as well as the new budget.

The biggest issue, Giroux added, is growth.

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“Standish seems to have become the next place to be the bedroom community for the service and business centers in the area, and so we’re seeing a lot of development. And the town has done a decent job in preparing for that so that it happens in the right way, so we’ll continue to manage that growth,” he said.

“The town has already developed land use policies that I think are adequate to manage it, so you’ve got to keep tweaking as you go along,” he said.

Giroux said he is “having fun” in his new position and is “looking forward to digging in and getting to work with this council and staff.”

Giroux served as the city manager of Bath for 11 years before stepping down in July 2017 and served as the town manager of Bowdoinham for six years before that.

Jane Vaughan can be reached at 780-9103 or at jvaughan@keepmecurrent.com.

Bill Giroux has officially been chosen as the permanent Standish town manager.


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