The city of Portland announced Friday afternoon it has hired former Washington, D.C. and Sagadahoc County official Jason Shedlock to fill the newly created position of special assistant to the mayor.
Mayor Ethan Strimling and supporters of the hire issued statements Friday lauding the move, saying Shedlock would help handle the heavy workload at City Hall.
“When we set our goals for the year, the council identified a number of challenges that we’d like to see addressed in order to improve the city of Portland and make it the best it can be for its residents,” said Strimling in a statement. “It’s going to take a lot of people working together to accomplish those goals. I’m excited to have Jason help move us forward.”
But the establishment of the new position, when announced in January, didn’t come without controversy. Some, including former longtime city councilor Cheryl Leeman, were critical of the expansion of the mayor’s office, saying it validated concerns raised six years ago that re-establishing the publicly elected mayor position would be the first step toward ballooning new payroll expenses at City Hall.
Shedlock will be paid a salary of $64,000 per year, slightly less than Strimling’s salary of $70,000. He will start work in Portland on April 4.
Former City Councilor James Cohen and Chris Hall, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce — who both served on the 2010 panel that campaigned for the restoration of the publicly elected mayor position — issued statements Friday defending the creation the special assistant job.
“For decades, Portland’s part-time mayors had part-time staff,” Cohen said in a statement. “Now that Portland has a full-time mayor, having a full-time staff person ensures continuity of support, which is essential to allowing the mayor to do a good job for the people of Portland.”
Shedlock comes to the mayor’s office from Bath, where he served as deputy director of emergency management and board of health for the Sagadahoc County Emergency Management Agency. Before that, he worked at a public relations firm now called Industrium, and for a stint as regional communications and government relations director for the American Red Cross of Maine.
He also previously spent four years working as the chief of staff for a member of the Washington, D.C., City Council, where he managed an office of nine and handled many of the tasks Strimling will ask of him in Portland, such as internal and external communications, working on policy initiatives, and ensuring quality constituent services.
“I’m really impressed by Jason’s background and the fact that he has experience working for city councilors on policy issues,” said Councilor Nick Mavodones, who was part of the interview panel, in a statement Friday. “The council has a lot of work that we want to accomplish and this position will not only help us accomplish it, but will free up city staff who are often asked to assist.”
