BREWER – The city’s search for an assistant manager ended this week with the appointment of a Bucksport man to the key City Hall post.

Howard Kroll, 34, was selected from a field of nearly 130 applicants for the position and was one of six finalists interviewed by a City Hall team composed of City Manager Stephen Bost, Finance Director Karen McVey and Economic Development Director Drew Sachs.

Kroll succeeds former aide Michael MacDonald, who left the city’s employ to become town manager for Mount Desert.

“By any measure, Howard is a world-class candidate and we are pleased that he wants to be in Brewer,” Bost said in announcing Kroll’s appointment. “He is very talented, with broad experience as an executive and municipal leader, and will have a lasting and positive impact on the community.”

Kroll will assume his new duties in Brewer on Jan. 7, Bost said. Kroll’s starting salary has been set at $44,000.

Kroll comes to Brewer from Milbridge, where he has been town manager for three years. During his tenure in one of Washington County’s poorest communities, Kroll was responsible for leveraging significant federal and state funding for such initiatives as the construction of a new town marina, addressing riverbank stabilization, putting additional law enforcement officers on the streets, repairing substandard homes and the eventual dredging of the Narraguagus River, last done more than 30 years ago.

Other work experience includes serving as town manager for St. Agatha, as an account manager for Mede America Corp. in West Seneca, N.Y., and as a U.S. Navy officer, stationed on the USS New Jersey.

In a telephone interview this week, Kroll said he is eager to start work in Brewer, largely due to the progress he’s observed during the past few years.

“It’s done a 180 since the late 1990s,” Kroll said. “There have been some drastic changes. It’s growing, and the potential is there to learn from some people who’ve had some successes.”

At the same time, however, Kroll said he’s sad to leave Milbridge. “I think we’ve come a long way down here. We’re finally starting to see the fruits of our labor,” he said. He said, however, that he won’t miss the commute. Kroll said his daily drive to work for the past three years has been an hour and 10 minutes, one way.

Kroll earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Maine, where his studies focused on public management-administration and community development.