Millinocket has 32 candidates for town manager’s job

MILLINOCKET, Maine — Town leaders are reviewing 32 applications to replace Eugene Conlogue as the town’s manager, Town Council Chairman John Davis said Sunday.

“I was pretty impressed with some of the resumes. I have been over 19 of them and I am very impressed. It shows that there is a lot of interest out there in small towns like this. It is interest from all over the country,” Davis said.

Millinocket’s town manager for 13 years, Conlogue left the position early last month and became Houlton’s town manager, succeeding Doug Hazlett.

Councilors voted 4-2 to accept Conlogue’s resignation, 7-0 to extend his contract to his Oct. 5 departure date and 6-0 to hire Maine Municipal Association for $4,900 to help find his permanent successor. Councilors Gilda Stratton and John Raymond voted against accepting the resignation and Councilor Jimmy Busque left the meeting early.

Councilors hired former Maine Senate President Charles Pray as interim town manager in early September. Pray was a state senator from 1975 to 1992 and served as Senate president from 1984 to 1992.

Several councilors will meet with MMA officials on Monday to review the 32 candidates’ resumes, Davis said. The high number of candidates makes it difficult to say when the hiring process will culminate, Davis said.

“This isn’t anything you want to hurry. We have to narrow it down to the people we want to interview,” Davis said. “I believe it will be at least the new year before we are ready to make a decision.”