By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO— Having someone who is a good fit for this Maine town signing the contract to become its next town manager by early November might be on a list of things for which the Casco Board of Selectmen would be thankful.

After all, it might be nearing Thanksgiving on the calendar before a finalist is selected from the future resumes and from future interviews.

On Tuesday, the board decided to have the town manager position appear in nationwide job search sites. This will be the second time that the job has been advertised. The first time, the deadline was Aug. 12.

The new advertisement will have a deadline of Oct. 7 for resumes packages to be submitted.

Don Gerrish, of Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, provided the board with a couple timelines based on either three or four weeks of advertising.

He left that timeframe up to the board.

“How long do you want to run the ad,” he asked.

He said that a deadline of Oct. 14 would give job seekers four weeks of advertising. Gerrish asked the selectmen if they would be okay with “three weeks instead.”

He said that people tend to wait and turn in resumes at the last minute, no matter what the deadline is.

Moving the deadline application to an earlier date might move the entire process to a week earlier.

He said the selectmen might know who the finalist is by mid-November.

Board member Holly Hancock asked a question about whether or not the pandemic would decrease the number of people applying for the town manager position.

“Do you think we are going to have candidates that are willing to take on the challenges of COVID,” Hancock asked.

Gerrish said that he expected about 25 to 30 applicants. He did not think Covid-19 would factor into the number of people expressing interest in this particular job.

“People have to deal with the Covid issue no matter where they go,” Gerrish said.

Also, he talked to David Barrett, the director of Personnel Services & Labor Relations with the Maine Municipal Association (MMA).

“They have 70 resumes for one job,” he said.

“I think we will get 25 to 30 (resumes) again. We may get the same (people). Just letting you know. We will get some new people,” Gerrish predicted.