PORTLAND — Former Auburn City Manager Patricia Finnigan was recently appointed to serve as Portland’s acting city manager when long-time City Manager Joe Gray retires next month.
The announcement came last week from Mayor Nicholas Mavodones’ office, which reported that the Portland City Council will officially appoint Finnigan during its Jan. 19 meeting.
Finnigan left the Twin Cities in 2007 after 13 years as Auburn’s city manager to assume the post as Portland’s assistant city manager.
During her time in Portland, she has been involved in a variety of city functions, including serving as liaison with federal and state governments and reorganizing the city’s economic development efforts. She also worked closely with former Gov. John Baldacci and the Legislature to secure funds for the deep-water pier under construction at the Ocean Gateway Marine Terminal and coordinated the city’s efforts to seek funding through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“Pat’s breadth of experience serving in municipal government from assistant city manager in Portland, to city manager of Auburn, to Bangor city councilor means that she has an understanding of how city government needs to function both internally with employees and externally with the public,” Mavodones said of Finnigan’s lengthy history of public service. “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.”
During her tenure as Auburn city manager, Finnigan initiated and implemented a master plan that revitalized the downtown and a strategic economic development plan that led to more than $100 million of private investment in the city. Auburn even received a bond rating upgrade to the A category in 2000, the first time since the late 1980s, .
Prior to the Jan. 19 Portland City Council meeting, councilors will hold a workshop that afternoon to discuss the search process for a new city manager. The six-month process will include a national search assisted by a professional firm with experience in municipal government.
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