Rising turnover and a shrinking talent pool leave local governments searching for stability and new ways to mentor future leaders.

Jul 24, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop.

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By Makayla Morello of the Maine Monitor

MAINE—Many Maine cities and towns struggle to retain their managers, a growing challenge that experts and local officials describe as a “revolving door.”

These administrators serve as chief operating officers, overseeing daily municipal operations, balancing budgets, hiring department heads, and ensuring essential services run smoothly.

In rural communities struggling to fill government jobs, town managers often shoulder extra responsibilities. Tight budgets and persistent staffing shortages pull them into duties far beyond their traditional job descriptions just to keep their towns running.

In Madison, Cheyenne Stevens serves as town clerk, treasurer, registrar of voters, and coordinator of the Living Well in Madison program. She became town manager July 1 and hopes to eventually delegate some of her other duties.

Other communities compensate town managers for specialized work. In Rumford, Town Manager George O’Keefe Jr. also serves as the economic development director. Under his contract, O’Keefe receives a $17,544 stipend for the extra duties.

Kate Dufour, director of advocacy and communications for the Maine Municipal Association, said multiple factors drive high turnover across the state, starting with an aging workforce.

“Like all other industries, public and private, the workforce is aging out,” she said. “Many managers are retiring after serving one or multiple municipalities for decades. Additionally, managers grow their careers by moving from smaller to larger communities.”

Dufour also pointed to the job’s complexity.

“From knowledge of taxes, public works, public safety, and General Assistance, just to name a few, there are many pressures and expectations placed on municipal managers,” she said.

Dufour added that the manager and municipal staff members remain “readily accessible to the people.”

“With growing frustration with all levels of government, public stress, fear and frustration often target the manager,” she said.

Dufour said municipalities also must recruit realistically.

“Finally, in the process of hiring a manager, the community needs to be honest about what they expect the manager to produce and what they are willing to pay for that service,” she said. “The community and manager must be on the same page.”

Mark Brewer, a political science professor and chair at the University of Maine, echoed those concerns and cited an additional challenge: a shrinking pipeline of trained municipal leaders.

“I see two primary drivers here,” he said. “The first is that for a variety of reasons, the number of trained town managers in Maine has declined significantly in recent years.”

The second, he said, “is that local politics has become more contentious in Maine, with many towns seeing more conflict. Sometimes this causes town managers to leave. Sometimes they are forced out.”

Brewer added that turnover can destabilize local government.

“There can be significant disruption to town affairs and (a) decline in the quality of town services and administration,” he said. “Sometimes these can put the town in legal jeopardy.”

Those pressures are reflected in communities across Maine, where turnover is no longer isolated, but recurring — and in some cases, extreme.

In several towns, leadership changes have occurred in rapid succession. Old Orchard Beach saw Town Manager Tim Pellerin resign just two weeks after beginning the role in June. In Lincoln, interim Town Manager Wade Schaefer stepped down after less than two months, becoming the fourth person to leave the position since November 2025.

Some communities also face deeper instability. Limestone cycled through 11 town managers in the past seven years. The revolving door forced the town to rely on interim and temporary managers, though local leaders said they remain hopeful that recent structural changes will improve stability.

In Raymond, Joseph Crocker became the third town manager to step down in a 20-month period. He resigned in October 2025 after roughly four months on the job, saying some elected officials were not supportive enough of town staff members.

Skowhegan has seen similar instability. Donnie Zaluski has served as interim manager since March 2026, after Nicholas Nadeau served from May 2025 to March 2026 and died by suicide amid an active state police investigation. Before Nadeau, Skowhegan had two town managers who each served less than a year.

Zaluski, who led the town through a period of transition, described the challenges of stepping into the role.

“Prioritizing the budget and department needs. Addressing emergency needs. Many needs from the public and Select Board are going through the town manager’s office,” he said. “Think of the worst day of a customer service position and mix in managing people and being a steward of public funds.”

Zaluski said instability undermines basic governance structures.

“Accountability and communication are the first thing to be addressed,” he said. “The fundamentals of the chain of command are put on hold until someone with leadership can take control.”

Zaluski also tied workforce shortages to a lack of succession planning and difficulty filling specialized roles.

“There is a trained and skilled workers deficit related to lack of succession plans, most likely rooted in the shift to bachelor’s degrees instead of management and skilled trades,” he said.

For municipalities trying to hire and retain permanent managers, Zaluski advised leaders to judge candidates on attitude first, not their technical abilities.

“Hire for attitude, not technical skills. Leadership is what is needed, not legal acumen,” he said. “People want to feel good about what they are doing, and it takes someone that listens to do that. Often people think there is a magic bullet for success, but success isn’t a goal; it is a set of skills based in stewardship.”

Raymond Town Manager Glenn Michalowski said many statewide challenges are reflected in his own experience.

“Maine has over 490 municipalities, and in almost all of them, the town manager is a statutory position — unless you’ve got administrative selectmen or some other setup,” he said. “Right now, there are more people leaving the profession than coming into it.”

Michalowski said a combination of factors drives the shortage.

“Here in Maine, some town managers function as health officers, tax collectors, treasurers, animal control officers and General Assistance administrators, in addition to guiding the strategic direction of their communities,” he said. “And if you’re in a place that’s politically volatile, on top of limited resources and doing all those tasks, it can create burnout, and people move on once they’ve hit their limit or realize it is not sustainable.”

He said expectations also changed over the past decade as technology increased access to local government.

“I think the increase in digital services makes everyone’s lives easier, and it helps us do more with less,” he said. “That added transparency brings added scrutiny, which is fine. I just observe how expectations change.”

Looking ahead, Michalowski said strengthening the pipeline of future town managers will require both mentorship and creative approaches to attracting candidates.

“There are some creative and controversial things other communities are trying,” he said. “I don’t know the answer, but I think mentorship, expanding the pipeline and showing folks that public service is still a great, rewarding career all matter.”

Echoing some sentiments made by other managers, Marc Amaral, the town manager of Winslow, said: “Residents expect more immediate communication and greater transparency than ever before, rightfully so, and technology has made local government more accessible and more visible. Those changes require municipal leaders to communicate proactively and remain responsive.”

Amaral added that balancing affordability with service delivery is an ongoing challenge for local governments.

“In Maine, many communities have aging populations, and many residents are living on fixed incomes,” he said. “As municipal leaders, we have to ask ourselves how to keep people in their homes while also investing in infrastructure, public safety and the services that keep a community functioning. Finding that balance is one of the most important responsibilities of the job.”

Reflecting trends he said the state has seen, Amaral said: “The position requires you to wear many different hats. The variety is one of the things that makes the profession rewarding, but it also means there are constant competing priorities.”

Despite the challenges town managers face, Amaral said the profession remains rooted in public service, and mentorship helps improve retention.

While he acknowledged there may not be a single solution, Amaral said, “This profession requires people who are adaptable, resilient, collaborative, and comfortable making difficult decisions while balancing many competing interests. Those qualities are not easy to find. Competitive compensation and professional support certainly matter, but so does mentoring the next generation of municipal leaders and creating environments where they can succeed. At the end of the day, it’s a profession built on public service, and we should continue encouraging talented people who have a passion for serving their communities to consider it.”

Some municipalities and organizations are already working to address the state’s high turnover rate.

The Maine Municipal Association signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Maine at Augusta in December 2023, expanding education and training opportunities for municipal officials across the state. Under the partnership, municipal officers, employees, volunteers and members of MMA’s affiliated groups from its 484 member communities can access UMA course offerings at a 20 percent discount on tuition and mandatory fees.

Individual communities are also investing in recruitment efforts.

In late May, the Skowhegan Select Board voted to pay the Maine Municipal Association $6,600 for executive search services to help recruit its next town manager. The association is expected to conduct a background check and assist with contract negotiations. The board also has been working to assemble a search committee that includes public representation.

While the reasons for high turnover vary by community, Maine’s municipal leaders and experts agree on the root challenges: a shrinking pipeline of qualified candidates, increasingly demanding job responsibilities, political tensions and growing public expectations.

As communities invest in recruitment, training and mentorship, many hope those efforts strengthen the profession and provide greater stability for municipalities across the state.

Until then, many cities and towns continue to search not only for their next manager, but for ways to retain that leader.

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This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.

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