ORONO – Residents welcomed new Town Manager Catherine Conlow at an open house on Thursday.

Conlow, who took over her new position in January, said she has found the staff and residents to be wonderful.

“First and foremost, I’m really pleased with the staff here,” Conlow said. “They’re very professional and very good at what they do.”

Conlow previously spent 12 years working in county government in Oregon, where she lived in a college town. She spent two years in Minnesota before coming to Orono last month.

City officials said they are pleased with Conlow’s work and had nothing but positive things to say about the new town manager.

There are still things that Conlow says she is trying to understand, mainly revolving around financial issues. But so far, there have been no big problems.

With municipal elections just around the corner, the council also is faced with configuring the new budget. Conlow says the next hurdle will concern planning and development issues.

“Perhaps my biggest challenge is how to help the council get some clarity and bring a more systematic approach to dealing with planning and development issues,” Conlow said.

There’s already a lot of information available on the topic, but how to implement economic development while causing the least amount of disturbance to the way of life Orono residents are used to will be a challenge.

As Conlow continues to learn about the town, she said she has found that existing ordinances are complete and that the council has done a good job with past budgets and financial tracking of where money is allocated.

“I’m not at all disappointed,” Conlow said. “I’m really very happy about the choice I made coming here.”