DIXFIELD – Selectmen will begin interviewing town manager candidates next week.
Board Chairman Tony Carter said at Monday’s regular selectmen’s meeting that the hiring committee has selected three people to interview from the 16 applications submitted.
The ad hoc Search Committee is made up of the five selectmen, Town Manager John Madigan and Rumford Town Manager Steve Eldridge.
Applications for the position came from throughout Maine, as well as from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota.
“There’s a broad range of applicants, from soon-to-be college graduates to seasoned town managers,” Carter said.
Two applicants will be interviewed on Monday, Dec. 19, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The third will be interviewed at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20.
Carter said the Search Committee will decide whether to make an offer following the third interview on Tuesday.
The towns of Dixfield and Mexico decided in August to share Madigan, who’d been Mexico’s full-time town manager prior to that. This cooperative effort was the first for the area.
However, after several months leading both towns, Madigan said that although he could manage the day-to-day operations of the two towns, insufficient time was available to pursue long-term planning and other goals for both towns.
Once a new manager has been chosen, Madigan will return to Mexico as its full-time manager.
Carter said he hopes that a new manager will be in place sometime in January.
In other matters on Monday, the board:
• Approved the 2006 Water Department budget of $296,000, down 16 percent from the current budget of $352,000. The decrease is attributed in large part to realigning wages to the correct account. Revenues for the upcoming year are expected to come in at $305,000.
• Approved the 2006 Sewer Department budget of $147,500, up 5 percent from 2005’s $140,200 budget. Revenues for 2006 are expected to be $147,700.
• Approved use of some of the land that once held the town’s reservoir on the Hall Hill Road as a lay-down area for Michael Brann’s logging contract from adjacent property.
• Rescheduled the next regular board meeting to Tuesday, Dec. 27.
• Entered into a closed session to continue negotiations for the highway department union contract.
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