Brewer hires finance director California woman to begin Jan. 2

BREWER – City Manager Stephen Bost announced Thursday that a key City Hall vacancy has been filled. Karen McVey this week accepted a position as the city’s next finance director.

According to Bost, McVey was chosen from a field of 33 qualified candidates.

“By any measure, Karen is a world-class candidate and we are pleased that she wants to be in Brewer,” Bost said. “She is incredibly talented, and Karen’s broad experience in both finance and public policy will have a lasting and positive impact on the community.”

McVey, 33, comes to Brewer from northern California, where she is currently the performance audit manager for the city and county of San Francisco. In that position, she has been responsible for planning and supervising city department operations to ensure they meet budgetary guidelines, goals and objectives.

Her previous work experience includes a post as budget analyst with the Congressional Budget Office’s State and Local Government Cost Estimates unit, a position as an analyst with Environmental Protection Agency and work as an environmental planner with the California Department of Transportation.

A certified internal auditor, McVey holds a bachelor’s in arts from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and a master’s in public policy and urban planning from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, one of the nation’s premiere academic institutions for government and finance.

She succeeds Stan Harmon, who recently left the city’s employ after two years of service to return to his former position as finance director for the coastal resort town of Bar Harbor. For Harmon the move offered an opportunity to reconnect with family and old friends.

During a telephone interview this week, McVey said a desire to work in a setting that more directly affected people and the chance to return to the East Coast were a few of the reasons she pursued the Brewer post.

“This has been a long-term career goal, so I’m very excited,” she said. “I wanted to work in a smaller city and be more involved in the community,” she said. “In Brewer, there’s an opportunity to really drive what happens in the city.”

While working at the federal level, she said it was often difficult to see what impact her efforts had. In a relatively small community, “there is no buffer between you and what you’re doing.”

McVey also said she liked what she saw during her visits to Brewer as part of her job interview. “You really get a sense that it’s a team environment,” she said. “People really have a lot of enthusiasm, and it’s very friendly and very accessible. I think it has a lot of potential.”

McVey, a native of New York, said she spotted the ad for the Brewer post in a Portland daily newspaper in late October while visiting her sister, who lives in Cape Elizabeth with her family.

While living on the West Coast, McVey also missed the changing seasons. “I love the winter,” she said, adding that she had to drive four hours to reach snow from her home in California.

McVey’s appointment is subject to confirmation by the City Council, Bost said. Though her appointment is effective Jan. 2, McVey said she planned to spend some time at City Hall in late December familiarizing herself with her new duties in Brewer. Her base salary in Brewer will be $55,000.