WINSLOW — The Town Council on Wednesday hired a new town manager without advertising the opening or soliciting input from residents.
Marc Amaral, whose hiring was approved by a 4-1 vote, will take over for Steve Soucy, who announced his resignation in August after only three months in the position due to family health issues.
Amaral’s start date and salary were not immediately clear. Councilors approved a resolution allowing Chairperson Frances Hudson to negotiate a contract with him.
Hudson did not respond to several requests for comment.
The Town Council’s choice to forgo a formal search process diverges from how Winslow has hired previous managers. Most municipalities advertise an open manager position for several weeks and comb through applications before choosing a candidate.
At-Large Councilor Lee Trahan, the lone vote against Amaral’s hiring, said he was disappointed that the town did not conduct a search.
“As a town with the track record that we have, I just wish we could’ve, somehow, done something differently,” Trahan said. “We might have still come out with the same outcome.”
Other councilors praised Amaral and said his hiring was the start of a new, positive era for Winslow.
“I am excited to work alongside our new town manager and with the residents across Winslow,” Councilor Doris Labranche said as part of a prepared statement. “Together, we can build a strong, brighter and more united future for our town. I firmly believe Winslow’s best days are ahead, filled with collaboration, progress and shared success.”
Amaral, 36, said he was excited to begin working, and said he brings a wealth of leadership and fiscal management experience. He said he was attracted to apply for the job in Winslow, where he said he knew several people already despite living in Pittsfield, because it was a promising career step.
Amaral spent about five years in the Marines, after which he worked for about 11 years as a property manager and about then two years as a security manager, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“I’ve been serving since I joined the Marines when I was 18 — that’s what I hope to bring to Winslow,” he said.
Hudson said Winslow was advised by the Maine Municipal Association not to re-advertise the position. MMA conducted the search this past spring that resulted in the hiring of Soucy, the current town manager.
Searching again would have been futile, Hudson said. With a limited number of qualified manager candidates in central Maine — a reality several towns and cities have struggled with in recent years — the council majority chose to hire Amaral, who had applied for the position in the spring and was their “second choice,” behind Soucy.
Soucy’s hiring in April was scrutinized by many residents. He applied only after councilors had rejected two-dozen candidates, and, like Amaral, he had no prior municipal experience.
Soucy had also lost a Town Council election five months earlier to Dale Macklin, a vocal critic of Hudson and her allies on the council. Some residents raised concerns that his hiring was improper — he had filmed campaign videos with members of the council during the campaign — but council members denied any allegation of cronyism.
Hudson praised the process for hiring Soucy in an Aug. 11 Town Council meeting. She said the council couldn’t be “any more transparent” and that council members chose “to go with MMA because we wanted to be transparent, we wanted to be fair.”
After Soucy’s resignation announcement, though, town officials never advertised the position — with MMA or any other platform. Amaral, Hudson said, was simply the first to reach out to councilors expressing his continued interest in the position.
Town officials also did not solicit resident input on the hiring, thanks in part to a new policy that bars residents from speaking during special meetings, among other restrictions.
The policy was applied for the first time Wednesday in a moment of tension that has come to typify the town’s affairs in recent years.
Hudson accosted a resident, Kyla Mihalovits, who was sitting in the audience, over her “leaking” Amaral’s name onto social media late last week.
Hudson said Amaral’s name should have been protected because his current employer, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, may have fired him for seeking another position. The agenda for the meeting posted to Winslow’s website did not include Amaral’s name; instead, it named the new manager as “Candidate A.”
Towns in central Maine diverge on policy here: Some municipalities, like Gardiner, host meet-and-greet sessions with candidates before they’re hired, while others keep names secret until the candidate is hired.
“Shame on you,” Hudson said. “Shame on you, because you put his family and himself and his livelihood (in danger), by not only posting his name, but his LinkedIn account with everything on it for his (employer) to see.”
“Through the chair, can I clarify your comments?” Mihalovits said.
Hudson pointed toward Mihalovits, and then the door.
“You can now leave,” she said.
“You’re not being honest about that,” Mihalovits said.
“You are out of order — you can now leave,” Hudson repeated.
“No, ma’am,” Mihalovits said, prompting a head-tilting glare from Hudson.
Hudson then continued. She said she was unsure that future applicants would feel safe applying for jobs in Winslow, “knowing how our own residents would put their jobs at risk by publicly naming them before they’ve been hired.”
Mihalovits attempted to respond again, saying it was actually Hudson who leaked Amaral’s name from an executive session meeting.
Hudson banged her gavel twice, said “there is no public comment,” and hurriedly adjourned the meeting.
Amaral then approached the councilors at the front of the meeting room at the Winslow Public Library. He spoke at length with Trahan, who voted against his hiring.
Trahan said he was concerned that Amaral would not be able to unite the town, given the social media vitriol the town has become accustomed to in recent years.
“I look forward to proving you wrong,” Amaral told Trahan.