Roger Moody steps next door to help out

Tue, 02/19/2013 - 04:33 pm

Lynda Clancy

Roger Moody.

ROCKPORT — Roger Moody retired after 10 years as Camden's Town Manager in 2002. He then worked for Camden National Bank for four years and after that, for two years heading up a mediator's organization. But he will be putting his municipal leadership skills back in action in Rockport as he accepts the role of interim town manager.

The town and former Town Manager Robert Peabody reached a severance/release agreement that was signed Feb. 19. Rockport Town Clerk Linda Greenlaw is currently filling the role as Acting Town Manager, as well as tending to her own job duties.

Moody will be hired, pending board approval, tomorrow night, Feb. 20, at a meeting of the Rockport Select Board. He plans to attend the meeting, and answer questions board members may have.

He said he would help Rockport in whatever capacity it needed, and will be working on a parttime basis, 20 hours a week. He will be hired for $35 per hour.

""I will be engaging my profession again," said Moody, on Feb. 19. "I think I know a fair amount about the town of Rockport."

Moody was Camden's town manager from 1991 to 2002. He then worked at Camden National Bank from 2002 to 2006 as the government banking officer. From 2006 to 2008, he was executive director of the Maine Association of Mediators.

He is currently a Knox County Commissioner and will continue as such. He and Rockport's Select Board Chairman William Chapman both serve as board members of the Midcoast Economic Development District, one of six federally-designated economic development districts in Maine. Each district is tasked with coordinating with local, state and federal agencies to deliver effective economic and community development services to its communities.

The board discussed several names of possible interim town managers at recent closed-door meetings.

"He [Moody] was our choice," said Chapman.

Chapman said the Rockport Select Board will assemble a five to seven-member town manager search committee consisting of citizens. He anticipates a process that may take several months and be geographically large in scope.

"We anticipate this to be a nationwide search," said Chapman, referencing the town's recent search for a new fire chief that drew applications from across the country, even Alaska.

He said Select Board member Ken McKinley is currently working with Maine Municipal Association to draft search suggestions and parameters.

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