ELLSWORTH, Maine — The City Council has picked a new city manager, and he is bringing with him significant economic development and governmental management experience.
David Cole, who has been serving as interim city manager since March, will have the word “interim” removed officially from his title next month. Cole is the former head of Eastern Maine Development Corporation in Bangor and was commissioner of Maine Department of Transportation from 2003 until 2011.
The City Council voted 7-0 at a special meeting Monday night to offer Cole a 3-year contract that will begin Aug. 17, 2015. His salary is expected to start at $96,000 a year and, provided he passes a six-month probationary period, to increase to $98,000 a year in February 2016.
Bob Crosthwaite, chairman of the council, said Monday night that a few more details, such as benefits, need to be ironed out but that both the council and Cole expect them to be finalized this week. Once that is done and the contract is signed by the councilors, the remaining details of the contract will be made public, Crosthwaite said.
Cole will continue serving on an interim basis until the contract goes into effect on Aug. 17. As interim city manager, Cole on average has been working three days a week at City Hall for the past four months, since prior manager Michelle Beal left to take a job as the chief administrator of the Bangor law firm Rudman & Winchell.
After the council met for about 20 minutes in executive session Monday night, and then came out of the session to vote on hiring Cole, councilors said that Cole’s 20-plus years at EMDC is one of the main reasons they decided to hire him.
“Keep the wheels of our economic development rolling,” Councilor Gary Fortier instructed Cole.
Crosthwaite said after the meeting that 24 people applied for the job. That number was reduced to four and then to two prior to making the decision to hire Cole.
Crosthwaite said Cole’s significant experience in economic development and public administration made him a top candidate for the job.
For example, Crosthwaite said, the city has been interested in moving the entrance to the local high school on State Street, or Route 1A, so that it creates a four-way intersection with Forest Avenue. The project is expected to include a new crossing at the rail line that passes in front of the high school and to carry an estimated cost of $230,000, he said.
When Cole found out about it, he looked into some federal programs he was familiar with and found one that will pay up to 90 percent of the project, which will reduce the city’s share to only $23,000, Crosthwaite said. That scope of knowledge and ability to save the city expenses, he said, is hard to beat.
“We look forward to working with you and having you on board [full-time],” Crosthwaite told Cole.
Cole, who will continue to live in Brewer, has been working as a consultant since leaving MDOT more than four years ago. He indicated that, even after he was hired as interim manager, he initially was not interested in becoming the full-time city manager. His familiarity with Crosthwaite, who served as a state legislator while Cole headed MDOT, was a reason he sought the interim position and then decided to apply for the post.
“The city’s kind of grown on me,” Cole told the council Monday night. “It’s not often you get to test-drive a city.”
Cole added that, as city manager, he will continue the city’s efforts to grow and diversify Ellsworth’s economic base.
“I’m an economic developer at heart,” he said. “My goal is to help add some value and to continue to help make Ellsworth a great place to live and work and do business.”
