Brewer’s James Smith Has a Contract Waiting For Council Official Approval
OCT 11, 2023
BAR HARBOR—If the contract is signed next week, James Smith, of Brewer, is likely Bar Harbor’s next town manager.
Smith is currently the assistant city manager in Brewer. The council held an executive session about the search on October 3. There was no public action after the session.
According to Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock via email Wednesday morning, “I’m very excited. We’ve had great interim support, but I’m looking forward to having a full-time person back in the position. And especially glad to have someone with so much experience in municipal government and in Maine.”
In 2012, Smith was appointed Rockland’s city manager. Prior to that, he’d been Brewer’s assistant city manager for the first time. He was city manager in Rockland for two years (2012-2014) before heading back to Brewer. Prior to his first tenure in Brewer, he’d been the town manager of Oakland for one year. Prior to that, he’d been a platoon sergeant for ten years in the Marine Corps. According to the Mount Desert Islander, he has a degree in public administration from the University of Maine. The article does not specify if that is a graduate or undergraduate degree.
Smith officially starts November 13. The contract terms, Peacock said, have been agreed to, but the contract hasn’t been signed yet. She expects that will happen at the Town Council’s October 17 meeting. The contract requires a vote.
Smith replaces Kevin Sutherland, who left in January 2022. Since Sutherland’s departure Finance Director Sarah Gilbert and former town manager Cornell Knight have consecutively performed the town manager duties.
Knight was the town manager in Bar Harbor for seven years. He was followed by Sutherland. Prior to Knight, Dana Reed had been the town manager from 1986 to 2014. Knight had been one of two finalists when he was originally hired.
There has been no public involvement in the search other than a mid-March meeting where people stressed that they wanted public involvement.
Eight members of the public, two reporters, interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert and David Barrett of the Maine Municipal Association had gathered in March at a twice-rescheduled public meeting that led off with Appeals Board Chair Ellen Dohmen speaking to her concerns about the town and the hopes she had for the future. This had led to multiple people voicing their thoughts about qualities needed in a town manager; desire for inclusion and diversity and equity in the outreach; the bigger issues in the town; and the need for transparency.
In February, Barrett said that he began facilitating manager searches in the late 1980s and it was not common to have public participation then, but it is common now. The trick, he said, is to find a useful and viable way to do so. A passive way to do that is to have a public workshop prior to looking at resumes.
The expectation would be for public involvement to help the council make better and more informed decisions, he said and stressed that it would be important for those citizens involved to get their comments back to the council.
The Mount Desert Islander broke the news yesterday afternoon, saying that there had been a Town Council announcement. We did not receive that press release, nor as of this press time (9:30 a.m. October 11), have we received it. The release was also not on the town’s Facebook page or website as of this morning.
It is below and was offered from the Bangor Daily News. We appreciate their help. It was sent out yesterday afternoon, shortly before 3.
LINKS
Smith’s LinkedIn account.
Image of Smith via LinkedIn
The story will likely be updated once we hear back from Smith and receive the press release.
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