Searsport hires town manager; officials like her style

SEARSPORT – Sandra Blake may be a neophyte town manager, but she and selectmen are confident that her unflappable style will serve the town well.

Blake was hired this month to take over at the helm of Waldo County’s third-largest town. She will begin work July 1, replacing Jerry Storey, whose contract selectmen refused to renew in March.

Blake, 48, completed a bachelor’s degree in public administration at the University of Maine in 2001. In a telephone interview Friday, she said she began college at 39 after her husband died.

“This is a change in career, a change in life,” Blake said of seeking training and then employment in municipal government.

Selectmen granted her a six-month contract, Blake said, with an annual salary of $34,000. Blake and selectmen will negotiate a new contract after six months, she said.

A Bangor native, Blake most recently has been living in the Bath area. She expects to move to Searsport with her 12-year-old daughter in the coming weeks.

Several years ago, Blake lived in Searsport for a year, and for five years in neighboring Stockton Springs. “I just love the area,” she said.

While pursuing her education, Blake completed an internship at the Orono town office in 1999 and another internship at the Searsport town office from March to July 2001.

During her tenure in Searsport, she rewrote the operations manual for the town’s transfer station, a chore she said she enjoyed.

Blake described her management style as working “to be honest, open, respectful, courteous” and to not ask anyone to do something that she wouldn’t do herself.

Having worked in a variety of jobs, Blake said she will bring a certain maturity to the manager’s position.

“I have a lot more patience than I did when I was in my 20s,” she said.

Selectman Granville Gross said Blake impressed him and his colleagues on the board during her internship and in interviews for the manager post.

“She impressed us all out of the 15 applicants,” he said. “She’s got a good work attitude. She can converse with anybody. And she doesn’t get excited. That’s the good part.”