After more than half a year of searching, New Gloucester has selected a town manager. William Doyle, an experienced local-level politician, will take the position last occupied by Bill Kerbin. Doyle begins on March 23.

Doyle first ran for elected office in 2015, when he was elected as a city councilor in Saco. After being reelected to the position in 2017, Doyle successfully ran for mayor in 2019, a post he served in until 2023. In addition, he previously worked for the York County Sheriff’s Department, and is currently executive director of the National Correctional Employees Union.

Doyle said he had been looking around for town manager positions, and found the New Gloucester opening on the Maine Municipal Association website. He took the opportunity to apply, and was lucky enough to be one of the 20 candidates selected for an initial interview. Following a second interview and some follow-up discussions, Doyle was hired for the position.

The main responsibility of a town manager, Doyle said, is to oversee the day-to-day functions of a community, with policy making being left to the Select Board. He said he would be working with the board to implement the policies they put forward, and provide them with the best “pros and cons” to different situations facing the community.

“Some of that is known and some of that is unknown,” Doyle said. “Some of it will come with different decisions out of the state … and/or just things that happen through the normal course of life. Issues will come up and we’ll meet those head on.”

Regarding lessons learned from his previous experience in town government, Doyle said that smart growth is one of the challenges that every community is facing. He said that, across the country, communities are having to balance preserving the tranquil nature of the community with what the community needs and wants and how to pay for them. He said he will have to work with the Select Board to come up with policy decisions that address these issues.

He said he didn’t want to get ahead of the Select Board or department heads, but instead would come in with a fresh and open mind, understand the community, look at the town’s history, and work collaboratively with local administrators to implement the policies of the board.