Town excites new Machias manager

MACHIAS – New Town Manager Christina Therrien says she was pleasantly surprised the first time she drove into Machias for her interview with selectmen.

As the town manager of Clinton – a town of 3,500 – Therrien said she was expecting Machias, with a population of 2,300, to be similar.

“But Machias has three to four times the number of businesses,” Therrien said Tuesday. “This is more on the line of Skowhegan.”

Therrien began her new position on Nov. 5, replacing Scott Harriman, who left to take a position with Machias Savings Bank.

Therrien, 36, said she has a daughter who is in her last year of high school. So the elder Therrien is staying in Machias during the week and making the 21/2-hour drive to her home in Fairfield for the weekend.

Once her daughter graduates, she expects to move to Machias, she said.

The first few weeks in her new position have been busy for the Oakland native, who said her first request to selectmen was that she set up her office on the first floor of the town office building, rather than working from an upstairs office.

Selectmen gave her the go-ahead to partition their meeting room for a small office, she said.

The board has also given her permission to go out to bid on an upgraded computer system, Therrien said

“Some of the equipment we’re using is the type some towns phased out 10 years ago,” she said.

Therrien said she sees the need for new town offices, something the board has talked about for quite some time. As she spoke, workers were repairing leaks in the roof of the building.

Machias needs more office space, a secure system for storing town records and better access for people with disabilities, she said.

Therrien said she and selectmen are moving ahead on a number of issues, including discussions with the state Department of Economic and Community Development on the $400,000 construction loan for the Machias telebusiness center.

Last month, selectmen learned that the state sent a letter June 8 directing Machias to repay the loan because the town had failed to create the low-income jobs that are a requirement of the grant.

The 1999 grant required Machias to create 45 jobs with at least 51 percent of those going to people with low to moderate incomes.

Orman Whitcomb, program director for DECD’s Community Development Block Grant program, said Tuesday that the state sent the June 8 letter after numerous discussions with the former town manager about the town’s failure to provide documentation that any jobs were created.

Whitcomb said he has since met with town officials, including Therrien, and he understands that Machias may have met some of the grant requirements. “We’re trying to gather documentation on how many jobs were created and how many met the income requirement,” he said.

Therrien said she is working on putting together that documentation.

“The state was nice enough to wait until I got on board and I think everyone’s moving as quickly as possible to come into compliance,” she said.

Therrien said she meet with President John Joseph of the University of Maine at Machias and is looking forward to a close working relationship with UMM and the Machias school system.

“I’d like to see a town Website that would let people know about our businesses and our schools and the university said they have some students who may be able to help us work on that,” she said.