PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — City council members announced that the search for a new city manager is going better than expected during a meeting at City Hall on Wednesday night.
City council members said five people have applied for the position in the week and a half since it was posted with Municipal Resources Inc. Previous city manager Martin Puckett resigned from his position after 11 years to take a job as executive director at the Central Aroostook Association, which helps people with disabilities.
The deadline for applications to replace Puckett is Nov. 13. A committee of council members will decide which candidate gets the position soon after.
The city council met for about a half hour to go over announcements and voted 5-0 for approval of the consent agenda that included the road closure for the 34th annual light parade happening on Dec. 2.
The next date for the second 2024 budget hearing was set for Nov. 15 with a draft of the document available on the city’s website in their finance department section.
In other business, the Presque Isle Fire Department elected to donate its old rescue boggan to the Mars Hill Fire Department.
Later in the meeting, the interim city manager Lewis Cousins announced the city attorney has sent out notices to 11 Griffin Ridge Road to vacate the city owned property.
The Presque Isle Downtown Committee was given a $3,000 donation by the Masonic Lodge to further the veterans program.
One safety issue with City Hall is at the south door with the door freezing over with a layer of ice that needed to be salted. Interim city manager Cousins suggested the doorway would need a cover to prevent the door from being iced over.
The city council voted 5-0 to approve applications for malt, spirituous, and vinous licenses for Ferris BBQ and the new Maple Pig in the location that used to be the Irish Setter Pub.
Last day to request an absentee ballot is Nov. 2 for the upcoming Nov. 7 election announced by city clerk Kim Finnemore.
