HOULTON, Maine — Town councilors on Monday officially appointed a Wiscasset woman to serve as the second female town manager in Houlton’s history.
The room was full for the brief council meeting as a number of local residents and municipal employees attended to introduce themselves to 59-year-old Marian Anderson, and wish her well.
While Anderson herself has never lived in the area, her husband is a former truck driver who hauled goods to Aroostook County, and her brother attended the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Anderson said after the meeting that she was excited to move to Houlton, and that she and her husband plan to buy a house in the community.
“That is what I like to do,” she said Monday. “Get right in there and join in the town.”
Anderson actually confirmed that she had accepted the position on Jan. 9 after tending her resignation as town manager of Wiscasset, but the appointment wasn’t official until the Houlton councilors made it so during their Monday, Jan. 14, meeting.
When reached by phone at her Wiscasset office, where her final day will be Feb. 8, Anderson said on Jan. 9 that she was eagerly looking forward to her move to the Shiretown of Aroostook County and was especially looking forward to the vast amounts of snow for which Houlton is known.
“I’m excited,” Anderson said. “I haven’t decided yet if I am going to get a big shovel, or a snowmobile. I am very much looking forward to moving to Houlton.”
Anderson is Wiscasset’s longest-tenured town manager, having served in that capacity since 2014.
In Houlton, she replaces William MacDonald, who abruptly resigned from the position Sept. 4, less than nine months into the job.
Anderson attended Monday’s meeting in Houlton when councilors welcomed her to the community and expressed happiness that she had accepted the position.
She was one of 21 candidates who applied for the post. She graduated from the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service and Municipal Leadership and is a licensed tax assessor. She also has experience in code enforcement and has written federal grants. Prior to her tenure in Wiscasset, she had spent five years as town manager in Richmond.
Council Chairman Jane Torres said that Anderson’s experience as town manager in Wiscasset during a very trying time appealed to the councilors, and that they felt she would be able to handle issues relating to economic development that Houlton will face in the future.
Before the meeting ended, Houlton Police Chief Tim Deluca elicited applause from the crowd when he thanked Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary for taking the helm as interim town manager over the past five months. O’Leary has done the job successfully multiple times in the past.
Anderson becomes just the second female town manager in Houlton’s history. Peggy Daigle was the first in the early 2000s.
