BOWDOINHAM — Bowdoinham Selectmen Tuesday enlisted the Maine Municipal Association to help them find a new town manager at a cost of $6,500.
Selectmen are replacing former Town Manager Thomas Woodin, who resigned on Aug. 11 after less than 11 months on the job.
Selectmen still haven’t said why Woodin resigned and the town hasn’t provided a copy of his resignation letter to The Times Record, which requested the document as well as other correspondence related to Woodin under the Maine Freedom of Access Law on Aug. 13.
As part of that Aug. 13 request, The Times Record asked for public records that relate to Woodin’s resignation and job performance, including his resignation letter, contract and any details related to a severance package.
On Aug. 14, Interim Town Manager Nicole Briand responded, stating that the town will make the requested public records “that are in the town’s custody and control” available, excluding those considered confidential.
Briand at the time stated it would take approximately 14 days to conduct a preliminary search of the documents. As of Wednesday afternoon, no cost estimate or documents had been provided by the town.
Attempts to reach Woodin for comment on his resignation were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Town manager search
David Barrett of the Maine Municipal Association told selectmen during an Aug. 26 meeting that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the labor market and, by extension, the town manager replacement search.
In a similar such search in the town of Corinth, which is similar in size to Bowdoinham but more remote, Barrett told officials they should expect 20 to 25 resumes. Instead, the town received 63. A recent search in the town of Milo drew 45 resumes. Waterville received 70 resumes in the ongoing search for a city manager.
“Those are numbers that we have not seen in years, so there is something happening,” Barrett said.
In response from a question by Selectwoman Judy Gray, Barrett said there may be an influx of out-of-state candidates. There also seem to be people looking to escape states where there have been higher cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, for other places with a safer, more controlled environment, Barrett said.
Additionally, Barrett said, “there are a lot of unemployed people right now, or people who feel like they are at risk of being unemployed in the near term.”
Housing market statistics released in August by the Maine Association of Realtors show a surge of homes are being purchased by people from outside Maine.
“We are seeing evidence of increasing out-of-state buyer activity,” said Tom Cole, the association’s president. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Maine realtors have been noticing an influx of buyers from out-of-state looking at properties in Maine. Recent data indicates a 5.5 percent increase of sales to buyers from out-of-state comparing July 2020 to July of 2019.”
Barrett said he would expect to meet with selectmen about five times over the course of 12 weeks to discuss the search, resumes and conduct interviews. He will also help the town negotiate a contract with their new town manager. He expects to start advertising for the position between September and early in October.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
