On Dec. 5, less than 24 hours after posting for a second-in-command, South Portland City Manager Jim Gailey told his economic development committee he was “a little shell-shocked” at interest in the job. Last week, following the deadline for applications, the barrage was given a more quantitative measure. In all, Gailey said, 85 resumes were submitted from across Maine and the nation.
The city’s human resources department quickly “winnowed” the field down to “about 40,” said Gailey. On Tuesday, he and a search committee made up of six department heads vetted those resumes for the top candidates.
Gailey said he expects the committee will ultimately schedule between six to 10 interviews, to be completed by mid-February, when a job offer will be made.
“I’d really like to move on this so that the successful candidate can hit the city by the first or middle of March. That’s my goal,” he said.
South Portland has not had an official assistant city manager for more than a year. Erik Carson was hired in March 2008 to take that job and to also fill the role of economic development director, a post he had previously held in Westbrook. In early 2012, Carson was demoted from that duel role to the position of community development director. He then resigned in late August, two weeks after being placed on administrative leave.
Neither Gailey nor Human Resources Director Don Brewer has ever divulged why either action was taken against Carson. A former city development director himself, Gailey assumed Carson’s duties, saying at the time that he planned to rewrite the job description. The opening was posted a day after Mayor Tom Blake, in his inaugural address, called on Gailey to “fill this position quickly.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
