PORTLAND, Maine — Mayor Michael Brennan and the Portland City Council informally have agreed to install police Chief Michael Sauschuck as the acting city manager, according to an announcement issued late Friday morning.
The council officially will vote on the move at its April 27 meeting, and Sauschuck is expected to take on the role by May 8, when acting City Manager Sheila Hill-Christian leaves for a new job with the city of Cincinnati.
The departure of Hill-Christian — who previously was the deputy city manager and took on the acting city manager job when Mark Rees abruptly resigned last August — effectively leaves the city with vacancies in its top two administrative positions.
Sauschuck, who became the city’s police chief in early 2012, will be the third one off the bench to fill one of Portland’s most visible jobs.
“I appreciate the support that the mayor and council have shown me with this decision, and I look forward to working with the city’s strong team of department heads to continue carrying out a number of new policies and initiatives,” Sauschuck said Friday in a statement.
The movement of Sauschuck from the police station to City Hall will necessitate shuffling elsewhere among the ranks of city leaders, as well.
Assistant Police Chief Vernon Malloch will slide into the position of acting police chief. Anita LaChance, head of Portland’s recreation and facilities management staff, will become acting deputy city manager and Recreation Director Sally DeLuca will take on the role of acting director of recreation and facilities management.
The search for a new permanent city manager is ongoing, according to the announcement issued Friday by city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin.
The City Manager Search Committee, which has been meeting for several months, is reviewing applicants and is expected to ask between nine and 11 of the candidates to respond to essay questions, Grondin wrote.
The committee will use those essay question responses to narrow the field to about six candidates, who would be interviewed in-person the week of May 11, with a goal of having the new city manager in place by July 1, she wrote.
The city’s previous city manager, Mark Rees, announced in late August 2014 he would be stepping down from the post in early September after three years to pursue other “personal and professional opportunities.”
The loss of Hill-Christian is the latest move in what’s been a five-year period of heavy turnover at City Hall.
Starting with Rees’ hiring in 2011 and continuing through this year, the city has hired a new city manager, deputy city manager, police chief, fire chief, communications director, finance department director, school superintendent, planning director, director of health and human services, human resources director and corporation counsel, among other top positions, and has welcomed its first popularly elected mayor since 1923.
