Bangor received 23 applications for the open city manager position before last week’s deadline to accept resumes.
Don Gerrish from Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, the group selected to lead the search and hiring process, met with city councilors privately on Wednesday to review the applicants. Of those, councilors selected fewer than six candidates to interview.
The City Council plans to interview those candidates over the next few weeks, Gerrish said.
Whoever is selected will fill the seat of current Bangor City Manager Debbie Laurie, who announced last December that she will retire this May. Laurie has held the top administrative position since February 2022. Before that, she served as Bangor’s finance director, but joined the city in 1992.
Cara Pelletier, Bangor City Council chairperson, said the council “feels good” about both the quality and quantity of those who applied for the position. There was also “widespread agreement” among the group on who they’d like to interview.
“We’re hoping that the candidates are as good in person as they look on paper,” Pelletier said.
While selecting fewer than six candidates to interview may seem like a small number, Gerrish previously said he hoped to receive 15 to 20 applications for the position, and only three or four candidates may have the qualifications or experience the city is looking for.
“Any time you get over 20, you’ve done well,” Gerrish said. “I thought the numbers were good and I think we got some good people, so I’m pleased with that.”
Bangor City Councilor Rick Fournier said he feels better about how many applicants the city received and their experience compared with its last search for a city manager when Cathy Conlow departed in August 2021.
In January, Bangor residents weighed in on what qualities they’d like to see in their next city manager. While some opinions differed, many of the roughly dozen people who spoke agreed they’d like their next manager to be someone from Maine.
At least five of the more than 20 applicants live in Maine and more had connections to Maine, such as they lived in Maine previously, according to Fournier.
After the selected candidates undergo a first round of interviews, finalists for the position will meet with all city department heads and undergo a complete background check. Both Gerrish and city officials have said they hope to have a new city manager selected in the first week of April.
