BREWER – Drew Sachs is expected to be home for the holidays, but he’s not staying.

Brewer’s economic development director is leaving the city to become a partner with the firm hired to help Louisiana recover from the devastation created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Sachs, who e-mailed his resignation letter to City Manager Steve Bost on Dec. 6, took a leave of absence in September from his job with Brewer to work with the crisis and emergency management consulting firm James Lee Witt Associates, based in Washington, D.C.

James Lee Witt, previous director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and president and CEO of the firm he created in 2001, personally offered Sachs the partnership.

“It is simply an opportunity that is too great to pass up,” Sachs said Monday by telephone from Baton Rouge, La.

Sachs worked for Witt while employed at FEMA, a post he held before moving to Maine.

It is with “a heavy heart” that Sachs, who worked for Brewer for the last 61/2 years, gives his notice, he said. In his resignation letter to Bost, he thanks the city and ends the letter with: “I have not regretted a single moment I’ve spent working with you, the council or the city administration.”

The city will miss Sachs tremendously, Bost said.

“I consider Drew a close personal friend, which makes this departure that much more difficult,” the city manager said. “That said, I’m very happy for him.”

It was under Sachs’ economic leadership that the city created an attractive, forward-thinking business atmosphere that will continue even with his absence, Bost said.

“His tireless approach to economic development, as well as his heart and vision, has positioned Brewer as a leader in development not only in the region, but the state,” he said.

Nevertheless, Sachs’ leaving is a blow to the city, Mayor Gail Kelly said Monday evening.

“It’s a great loss for us,” she said. “Needless to say, Drew did an outstanding job for us.”

Kelly added: “Drew can do a lot of good for a lot of people” in his new job.

Sachs will continue with the recovery effort in Louisiana until February or so when his job with JLWA will let him focus on hazardous mitigation and long-term recovery planning.

“At that point, I’ll be able to do some work at home,” he said. “Disaster work is incredibly rewarding, but it does take a toll on your family.”

That, and working an average of 90 hours a week for the last several months. A resident of Hampden, Sachs isn’t planning to leave the area. “I should be around a lot more in the future,” he said.

Sachs also hopes to maintain a job with the city.

“I am hopeful that the City Council will allow me to … retain my post as Managing Director of South Brewer Redevelopment LLC so that I can see through the redevelopment of the Eastern Fine [Paper Co.] mill,” his resignation letter states.

The position isn’t a paid one.

The redevelopment project has numerous benefits to the economic and social well-being of the city, and he would like “to help make that project a success,” he said Monday.

It’s up to the City Council whether Sachs will continue with the mill project.

When Sachs took the temporary job with JLWA in September, D’arcy Main-Boyington, deputy economic development director, stepped in to fill his shoes, Kelly said.

“We’ve been very lucky to have D’arcy,” she said

The city will advertise for the economic development director position within the next couple of days, Bost said.