About 50 residents attended a “meet and greet” this week with the two finalists for the vacant Ogunquit town manager position.
The two finalists are Patricia Finnigan of Saco, most recently the town manager of Camden, Maine; and Kris Tucker of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the former director of economic and community development in Northampton County, Virginia.
Both candidates also were interviewed both by town government department heads and the Board of Selectmen. A final decision should come by next week’s end, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish said.
“I’m very delighted to have two good candidates,” Gerrish said Tuesday, the day of the “meet and greet.” “It’s nice, it’s refreshing. We’re looking forward to working with someone and getting things done in Ogunquit. We have a full plate ahead of us.”
“I like them both,” said Becky Fox of Marginal Avenue. “They are very personable.”
“I like them a lot,” agreed Selectman Madeline Mooney. “We have two top-quality people to choose from. The selection committee did a good job narrowing down the applicants.”
Patricia Finnigan
“I think Ogunquit is a classic Maine community that’s got so many resources,” Finnigan said after the event. “First and foremost are the citizens, a very active community, active in boards and committees. And I like working for a community that is very engaged.”
Finnigan said the job “would allow me to use what I consider my strengths, which is to work with people to achieve their goals. And to build bridges and be able to get people to communicate with each other and get things done.”
Finnigan expressed a willingness to learn.
“Whenever a manager comes into a community, the first and foremost thing is to listen,” she said. “Most managers don’t come in with preconceived ideas that ‘this community needs to do this,’ until you’ve had a chance to talk with people and listen to them. And then you can present to them, ‘This is what I’ve heard; is this the direction you want to go?’”
With a nod to recent history, Finnigan said: “All communities go through periods of ups and downs. I think the test of a community is how they come out of it. And I think this community has shown that they want to be able to move forward, and move forward working with each other in a positive way. I think that’s what I can bring to this job.”
While acknowledging that “the community has got some divisions that need to be bridged,” Finnigan asserted that Ogunquit is “in a good place” in wrapping up a comprehensive plan. … “And so getting people to coalesce around that will be very, very helpful.”
Finnigan also talked about seeking “a balance” among full-time residents, seasonal residents and the business community and developing lines of communications among these groups instead of perpetuating divisiveness.
Finnigan, a former city manager in Auburn and assistant city manager in Portland, abruptly resigned from the town manager position in Camden in January. Finnigan was embroiled in a controversy surrounding the management of Camden’s Snow Bowl ski area, in which two businesses were allowed to set up at the recreation area without having gone through the requisite local zoning processes. An audit later discovered more widespread financial mismanagement related to the Snow Bowl and its redevelopment.
Kris Tucker
Tucker has three generations of family from coastal Maine and knows the area well, he said.
“I fell in love with Ogunquit a long time ago, so when this opportunity came up, I had to take it,” he said.
His primary goal would be encouraging the citizens and leadership into “a position of trust” while also emphasizing fiscal responsibility.
“The instinct is to come to a place with all kinds of bright ideas and to think that you’re the first one to have them,” he said. “So, I can sit here and say, ‘Well, somebody really needs to do something about the traffic,’ but a lot of smart minds have already looked at the issue. So I’m sure I don’t have any knee-jerk original ideas. But I would like to look at the traffic situation.”
He added, “According to trip adviser, the average tourist in 2017 is dropping $1,982 a week, and they don’t want to spend their time here sitting in a line of traffic.”
However, “this isn’t all about the tourists; it’s about the residents as well. But tourists are such a big staple of the community. There’s a reason it’s the second lowest mill rate in the state. … So, I think a balanced approach to managing the town that takes the long-term residents’, the seasonal residents’ and the tourists’ interests at heart would probably be the one to take.”
Tucker also emphasized the new town manager needs “a strong ethical leaning with competency, with the ability to form strong relationships and good judgment. And I’ve tried to do that throughout my career.”