Patricia Finnigan, Appointed Acting City Manager, to Replace Retiring Grey

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 677)

Today Assistant City Manager Patricia Finnigan was named as Acting City Manager for the city of Portland effective February 11, 2011 by Mayor Nicholas Mavodones.  The appointment will become official at the city council’s meeting on January 19th.  The interim appointment was made due to the recent retirement announcement of City Manager Joe Gray, Jr. which is effective on February 11th.  Gray had been with the City for over 40 years, the last decade as City Manager.

Finnigan joined the city as Assistant City Manager in 2007 and during that period of time has been involved in a variety of city functions including serving as liaison with fedeal and state governments on issues of import to Portland and reorgnizing the city’s economic development efforts, said a press release issues by the city of Portland.

“Pat’s breadth of experience serving in municipal government from Assistant City Manager in Portland, to City Manager of Auburn to Bangor City Council, means that she has an understanding of how city government needs  to function oth inernally with employees and externally with the public,” stated Mayor Nick Mavodones.  “I am confident that she will make this transition seamless and keep us on track as we enter a new Congressional and Legislative year as well as begin our own budgetary process.”

As for the search process to fill the position of City Manager permanently, on January 19th, the City Council will hold a workshop the afternoon of January  19th to discuss the search process for a new City Manager as proposed by Mayor Mavodones.  The six-month process will include a national search assisted by a professional firm with experience in municipal government.   The press release continued:  “Finding the right person to lead the City of Portland is the most important thing a City Council can do,” stated Mavodones.  “We have been lucky to have an extremely skilled and dedicated City Manager this past decade and I intend to replace Joe with someone that brings the same level of experience and talent to the job.”

The hiring of the City Manager will roughly coincide with the election of a mayor as recently approved by the voters of Portland.