Durham has appointed Mitchell Berkowitz as the interim town manager following the resignation of Kathy Tombarelli.
Tombarelli — Durham’s first-ever town manager who started in May 2021— gave her notice on Feb. 15. Her last day will be March 15. In a statement at the time, Tombarelli said she felt she was not the right fit for the position, and, in addition, unforeseen family responsibilities came up.
“Mitch has lived his entire adult life in New England, completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with Springfield College. Mitch will begin work right away and will assist the Select Board with the search and hiring process for a new Town Manager in Durham,” reads a statement from the Durham Select Board posted Thursday.
Berkowitz served as the superintendent of recreation and parks, and then as city manager, for Berlin, New Hampshire for over 24 years, according to the statement. He then served as town manager in Colchester, Vermont for three years, Gray for five years and Bridgton for eight years until he retired.
“Since retirement, Mitch has remained active in the profession serving both as a consultant and as interim Town Manager on 8 occasions for other communities in Maine, often helping those communities find their new Town Managers,” the statement read.
“In all, Mitch’s active career spanned over 50 years of employment experience in federal and municipal government as well as non-profit agencies. His experiences include human resource management, financing, planning, service delivery systems and customers, facilitating community and committee work. Mitch has also served as a trustee to the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland and currently serves as a Trustee to the Gray Water District.”
According to an earlier statement Thursday, the select board has not yet discussed what the search process for a new town manager will look like, but it will be on a regular meeting agenda soon and expects there to be an opportunity for residents to participate in the interview process.
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