Maria Greeley, seen here at the Wilton Board of Selectpersons meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7, was selected to be the new town manager. Greeley has previously worked as a treasurer for the towns of Somerville and Union. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal
WILTON — As of Monday, Nov. 13, Maria Greeley officially took the role of Wilton Town Manager from Perry Ellsworth. Greeley comes to Wilton with years of experience working as a treasurer and other roles for towns like Union and Somerville.
Greeley replaces Ellsworth, who has served in the role for more than a year after taking over for long serving town manager Rhonda Irish. Greeley was offered the position from the Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Greeley came with high recommendations according to Ellsworth.
“You made the right choice,” Ellsworth told the Select Board at his final Select Board meeting as town manager. “She’s open to learning and open to discussion.”
Originally from Pennsylvania, Greeley came to Maine after meeting her future husband, who was a native of Jay. After settling down, Greeley began town office work in 2016 with the town of Somerville. She started out as a tax collector for the town and found room for advancement when the former treasurer was on their way out.
“I was aware that the current treasurer was retiring,” Greeley told the Franklin Journal in a phone interview. “And at that point, I had asked the [Somerville Board of Selectmen] to consider me for the position for the treasurer.”
Greeley served five years with Somerville and found herself wearing many hats in her time at the town office.
“I held a lot of different titles during those five years,” she said. “You know, kind of filling in here and there. I lived in the community, I knew the residents, and we worked really hard to just try to make the town run more efficiently and effectively.”
During her time in Somerville, Greeley was mentored and trained in the different ways a town office can service the community, instilling in her a sense of duty as a town officer to perform to the best of her ability.
“I learned during that time how important it was for me to serve the communities,” she stated. “and I just feel that that’s where I am and where I need to be.”
Projects that Greeley was involved in include a small food pantry that was built at the Somerville Town Office, which helped alleviate some of the food insecurity experienced in the community.
“[It was] just a small little building,” she said. “A non-perishable food pantry built right outside the town office to help with some of the food insecurity surrounding the community. I believe that’s still operational. Small scale, not an entire building full of food, but you know, just enough for people to just stop by and either drop off or pick up a few things.”
Greeley also helped jumpstart the Somerville Community Resource Committee, which is a committee designed to bring critical resources to the residents of Somerville and fulfill a specific need.
“We had a neighbor who had some farm animals, some goats and some cows that needed shelter before the winter,” she said. “We wanted to be able to provide the listing of individuals who would either be able to provide them labor or materials or just their expertise on how can we build this shack.
“It was about just gathering the community together to support each other,” she added.
After her time in Somerville, Greeley departed for the town of Union to be their treasurer, where she found her time spent more focused on the accounting aspects of the job as opposed to community involvement.
“In Somerville, I held a lot of different positions and dealt with the public a lot,” she shared. “In Union, it was primarily just the treasurer position. I didn’t interact with the public as much, but I was also in school during that time. It was fun to be able to spend some time just focusing on the accounting and the books for the town of Union and I learned a lot during that time.”
Greeley graduated from the University of Phoenix in March of this year with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. After more than a year with the town of Union, Greeley moved away from town government and settled in the town of Leeds with her husband and daughter. She transitioned into working for Royer Advisors and Accountants, but found herself missing her role in town government.
“I just missed the sense of community,” she stated. “It’s hard to get that elsewhere outside of a town office. Being able to serve Maine’s communities, I think, is by far one of the biggest achievements that I could have.”
Greeley departed from her role at Royer Advisors and Accountants to assume the position of town manager for Wilton this month. Taking on the role of town manager, Greeley has found she has several projects she must get herself involved in right away as plans for major development are underway in Wilton, such as the water transmission line project.
“We’ve already dove right into that,” Greeley said. “[We are] working with the department head and the engineer in understanding what the next steps are and working amongst the other employees to ensure we can secure the funding needed just make sure that we’re making the correct steps in that process.”
When she is not preoccupied with town government, Greeley says her six-year old daughter takes up a lot of her time, but she and her husband are able to get out and enjoy the Maine scenery.
“We really enjoy camping during the warmer months for sure,” she said. “In Maine, we have recently been getting back into hiking. We spend a lot of time outdoors. We just fill our time and the six-year old definitely picks up a lot of it.”
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