MACHIAS – The county has its first manager – but it’s not a new face.

Calais City Manager Linda Pagels announced Friday that she has accepted the position of county manager. The commissioners appointed Pagels at their regular meeting Thursday.

She is not the first county manager in the state. Other counties have managers-administrators.

Pagels, 53, has been city manager in Calais for the past five years.

Of the 20 people who applied for the county manager’s job – including one from Alaska – four were interviewed in the past week, and Pagels was selected.

County Chairman Chris Gardner Friday had high praise for Pagels.

“Linda’s years of experience speak for itself,” Gardner said. “She has done an excellent job wherever she’s gone. I think she’s done great things for the city of Calais. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that is going to be extremely beneficial to the people of Washington County, and Washington County as a whole.”

Gardner said the manager would help define the parameters of the job. “Not only is the new person going to do the job, but in essence she is going to help define the job, so it was very important that we select a very strong candidate to break new ground as county manager,” he said.

Gardner said that Pagels and the county commissioners were still working out her compensation package. When the commissioners advertised the position last year they said the new manager would be paid around $55,000, with the salary commensurate with experience.

Pagels has worked in municipal government since 1981.

A Calais High School graduate, Pagels served a college internship in 1976 in the city while she was a student at the University of Southern Maine. She returned to Calais in 1991 and worked as the assistant to the community development director. Pagels grew up in the Red Beach area of Calais and is the daughter of Norma Shattuck. Her father, the late Leonard Shattuck, at one time was a member of the Calais City Council.

Calais Mayor Vinton Cassidy commended Pagels and said she’d been a good manager. “We are going to miss her; I think she’s done a great job,” he said. “I think she’s making a good step forward, and I wish her luck.”

Pagels said she planned to work closely with Assistant City Manager Jim Porter over the next few weeks to ensure a smooth transition in the city. It now will be up to the City Council to search for Pagels’ replacement. Pagels is expected to begin full time for the county in mid-March. “I might be leaving the job, but I am not leaving town,” she said Friday.

The city manager said she appreciated Calais and liked the way the city had welcomed her back five years ago. “I have been honored that I was selected for the city manager’s job. I was welcomed back into the community and accepted as a professional and as a native,” she said.

Among her accomplishments as city manager, Pagels said, was improvements to the city’s sewer and water system. “In May of 2002 was when the Union Street pump station overflowed into the St. Croix River,” she said. “We’re at a point now where we have a consent agreement signed [with the Department of Environmental Protection], we have a facilities plan in place, and we have a financial plan implemented,” she said.

The city manager also aggressively has sought grants for the city, which has led to improvements to the downtown area, including a new park on Main Street. “This was just a wonderful time to be city manager,” she said.

Pagels said although she appreciated being the city manager, her new job offered some interesting challenges. “I’ve been really intrigued by this new position and how it can help all the communities in Washington County,” she said.

The county’s population is small – 33,941 people – compared with other counties in the state but large in area with more than 1 million acres. It stretches from Steuben at the southern end to Danforth at its northerly tip.

The new manager would be responsible for any and all things related to the county.