By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The Naples Board of Selectmen hired William “Bill” Giroux to fill the gap as interim manager until Naples hires a full-time town manager.

On Monday night, the selectmen came out of the executive session and appointed William Bill Giroux as the interim town manager. Also, following the executive session, the board hired the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) to help with the upcoming job search for a new town manager. 

“The major reason [for hiring an interim manager] is to have continuity throughout the town while we search for a permanent town manager,” according to Naples Chairman Jim Grattelo. “The reasons: A level of continuity, so employees have someone to go to, to stabilize everything while we search for a permanent town manager.”

Grattelo provided a bit of background information about Giroux. 

“Bill is very knowledgeable. He was town manager for the Town of Standish for four years, city manager of Bath for 11 years, and before that town manager of Bowdoinham. From about 1989 to 1999, for about 10 years, he worked for the City of Portland in various departments from assistant to city manager back in the 80s and 90s. He’s certainly very qualified,” Grattelo said. 

In February, current Naples Town Manager John Hawley announced his resignation. Hawley’s last day of work will be May 12. Giroux will start May 11.

“The transition will be just two days,” Grattelo said. “They both agreed that was all the time they needed. John is putting together a folder and a synopsis of where we are at. He feels that one to two days is all that is necessary.”

Giroux will have a three-day work week, he said.

Hiring an interim town manager is a process that happened during Grattelo’s time as a selectman. About five years ago, when

Ephrem Paraschak left the Town of Naples for a job in Gorham, the board hired Mitch Berkowitz as interim. 

Also, on Monday night, the board hired MMA to do the professional manager search.

“We hired David Barrett. David is the same person we hired 5 years ago from MMA to help us find John Hawley. Dave is familiar with Town of Naples and familiar with what we need because he did it five years ago,” Grattelo said.

There will be Zoom-only meeting on April 18.

“It’s a weekday meeting so hardly anyone can make it to town hall because it’s in the middle of the day,” he said. 

“Basically, the meeting is for David to tell us what opportunities there are out there, the lay of the land, and for us to tell him the criteria we have for a town manager,” Grattelo said.

Also, some of the topics that might be discussed are: the information to be included in the job advertisement, where and how to advertise the job vacancy, and the wage and compensation package to be offered.

Naples is not the only town hoping to find a suitable candidate to be town manager. Currently, there are close to 10 towns in the State of Maine that are searching for a town manager.