Two years ago the Maine Municipal Association and the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service announced a unique new professional development program for municipal officials. The Municipal Leadership Program – which consists of four sessions held quarterly on various University of Maine system campuses – was designed to enhance the leadership skills of Maine’s municipal officials and to help them prepare for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
The 2001 class of the Leadership Program finished their work in September. This year’s group was a diverse group with representatives from virtually every aspect of local government. At MMA’s recent convention, we recognized the second year’s graduating class of 27 local government officials from all over Maine and announced plans for another program in 2002. The following is a list of the graduates of the 2001 program:
Diane Barnes, Finance Officer, Skowhegan
Robert Belz, Public Works Director, Auburn
Paul Blanchette, Town Manager, Fairfield
Marian Cadrette-Anderson, Code Enforcement Officer, Boothbay
Michael Carroll, EMS Coordinator, South Portland
Jennifer Connolly, City Councilor, Westbrook
Christopher Crovo, Director of Operations, Portland Water District
Nancy Crowell, Library Director, Scarborough
Beverly Curry, Deputy Clerk, Freeport
Jean Dellert, City Councilor, Gardiner
Robert Devlin, Deputy Manager, Cumberland County
Judith Doore, Town Manager, Corinna
Sylvia Gray, Administrative Asst, Newry
Sid Hazelton, Assistant Public Works Director, Auburn
Rodd Hopper, Selectman, Edgecomb
Lee Ann Horowitz, Finance Director, Searsport
Martha Huff, Selectperson, Hollis
Clark Labbe, Deputy Fire Chief, Brunswick
Michael Marshall, Fire Lieutenant, South Portland
Nancy Matthews, Finance Director, Farmington
Jay Robbins, Town Manager, Richmond
Wayne Scarano, Town Council, Millinocket
David Schmidt, Town Planner, Kittery
Skip Stanley, Public Works Operations Manager, Auburn
Rhonda Stark, Town Clerk/Treasurer, Skowhegan
Christina Therrien, Town Manager, Machias
Yvonne Wilkinson, Town Clerk & Treasurer, Gouldsboro
MMA has recognized for a number of years that many municipal officials have been interested in receiving advanced professional development programs to assist them in dealing with the many complex issues they face.
We are excited to offer this new program again in 2002. The partnership we have established with the Muskie School and with the University of Maine system, will continue and our hope is to expand the offerings to municipal officials. This partnership has been formally recognized as the Maine Academy for Municipal Leadership and a steering committee was formed to provide advice and suggestions for future programming. The Academy sponsors the Municipal Leadership Program and these expanded offerings to assist municipal officials in addressing the many challenges they face.
Information about the 2002 program will be available on MMA’s web site at www.memun.org. We are hopeful that 30 – 35 municipal officials will participate in the program next year. We plan to recognize the graduates of the program at next year’s MMA Convention that will be held October 17, 2002 in Bangor.
We encourage you to learn more about this program. Because of the limited space available for this program we anticipate if will fill-up quickly. If you have questions or need more information feel free to contact Jeff Nevins at MMA at 1-800-452-8786.