ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council is scheduled next month to discuss whether it should hire a new city manager before or after the November election.
Assistant City Manager Audra Caler Bell has served as acting city manager since the June resignation of James Chaousis.
Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf said Thursday that the council will be discussing the process for hiring a city manager at the council’s meeting on Sept. 7. The council will include the personnel advisory board in the process, she said.
This would be the first time in at least 35 years that the personnel board has helped the council select a manager.
MacLellan-Ruf said she does not know whether the hiring will be done by the current council or the council that is seated after the Nov. 8 election. Two of the five council seats are on the ballot. MacLellan-Ruf announced earlier this month that she will not seek a second term. Councilor Larry Pritchett said he has not decided whether to seek a third consecutive term.
The new council will be seated Nov. 21.
MacLellan-Ruf said the timing for hiring the next manager should be a community decision. In 2014, when the council last searched for a city manager, the council paid $17,000 to consulting firm Dacri & Associates of Kennebunkport — a move some residents criticized as unnecessary. MacLellan-Ruf voted against contracting with the company.
Councilor Valli Geiger said Thursday she suspects the current council will wait until after the new council takes office before it makes a decision on a manager.
Councilor Adam Ackor said Thursday it appears as though nothing of substance will happen until after the election in November. “I would prefer we act sooner rather than later,” he said.
Eric Conrad, the director of communications and educational services for the Maine Municipal Association, said there are about six municipal manager positions open in the state, which has 206 municipalities with a town or city manager post.
“These are difficult jobs,” Conrad said. “The public sometimes underestimates how difficult. For starters, elected officials, town councils and select boards change with regularity. To a town or city manager, that means bosses change regularly.”