Cumberland Town Manager Bill Shane, right, volunteers at the Community Food Pantry in 2019, with former Town Councilor Tom Gruber. Shane, who is retiring in June, said it will be difficult to leave the pantry, which he and his wife started. File photo / The Forecaster
Cumberland Town Manager Bill Shane will miss his day-to-day talks about the town with his staff when he retires in June.
“We have some of the most talented staff here in Cumberland,” he said. “I couldn’t have been the manager I have been without the staff I have here. They’re amazing.”
Shane
He’ll also find it difficult to step away from his role as founder and leader of the Cumberland Community Food Pantry, where he has volunteered alongside his wife Linda Shane for 12 years.
“It’s special. That’ll be one of the hardest things to walk away from,” Shane said. “But I don’t want to be the guy who doesn’t know when to leave.”
Shane’s retirement announcement this month after 21 years on the job wasn’t a big surprise. He’d told the Town Council three years ago his new contract would be his last. The council is currently searching for Shane’s replacement.
“We are going to miss working with Bill when he takes his much-deserved retirement, but are also so very grateful to have had him at the helm for the past two decades,” Council Chair Mark Segrist said.
“While I have only had the pleasure of working with Bill for the last few years, I can honestly say that he strengthened my view of and appreciation for good local government and what it can be,” he said.
As both an engineer and a town manager, Shane is a hands-on problem solver who also has the ability to communicate complicated problems in a friendly, light and easy-to-understand way, Segrist said.
A graduate of the University of Maine, Shane began his career as a civil engineer working for the town of Yarmouth, and transitioned into town management in 2003.
In Cumberland, Shane helped facilitate the secession of Chebeague Island, boosted the town’s commercial development by over 7% and preserved open green space and trail systems.
Shane said he’s looking forward to slowing down, spending more time with his four granddaughters, and focusing on his health during retirement.
While he plans to work at least part-time in a field like civil engineering for the next few years, Shane doesn’t know what else is next.
“I might be kicked out to the golf course every morning and my wife will say, ‘Don’t come home until 5!’” he joked.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
