OXFORD — Derek Goodine, former town manager for Naples and Bucksport, has been selected as Oxford’s new manager, Board of Selectmen Chairman Scott Owens said.
Goodine will begin his duties Wednesday, June 1, pending contract negotiations, Owens said. The Brewer native is in the process of moving to Oxford, Owens said.
Goodine could not be reached for comment.
Although one of the advertised requirements of the job was experience working with Tax Increment Financing zones, such as the one set up on Route 26 near Oxford Casino, Owens said that will not necessarily be at the head of the list of things they want Goodine to concentrate on.
“We’ll take Derek’s past experiences into consideration and form a decision,” Owens said. “We did not hire an economic development director. We needed someone to run the town.”
Selectmen also required five years of full-time management experience, a degree in business or public administration, or the equivalent in relevant experience.
Goodine received his Bachelor of Arts degree in public management from the University of Maine in the early 1990s. He was town manager of Naples and most recently of Bucksport.
In August 2015, the Bucksport Town Council voted 4-2 to terminate Goodine, prompting one councilor to resign, according to a report by the Bangor Daily News at the time. Councilors invoked a clause in Goodine’s three-year employment contract that allowed them to fire him without citing a reason, the report said.
Goodine was hired as Bucksport town manager in April 2014 and saw the town through the closure of the Verso Corp. paper mill and the loss of more than 500 jobs.
His salary was approximately $82,000 annually when he left Bucksport, according to a Bangor Daily News report.
Goodine succeeds Michael Chammings, who left in January to become Auburn’s economic and community development director. Chammings was hired in 2004 at a salary of $48,000 per year and left this year with a salary of about $80,000.
Oxford Code Enforcement Officer Rodney Smith has been interim town manager since that time.
ldixon@sunmediagroup.net
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