By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

A new person has signed on as Weare town administrator, following a full year of that position going vacant.

Fred Ventresco of Madawaska, Maine, signed a three-year contract to fill the $69,000 annual position on Friday, June 9.

Ventresco replaces Bob Christensen, who resigned the position to continue his career in education last June.

Ventresco has a strong background in finance and community development, said Selectmen Vice Chairman Heleen Kurk.

Ventresco served as town manager of Madawaska along with sitting on the executive board of the Northern Maine Development Commission, according to that commission’s Web site.

“I know that having a strong sense of finance was one of our key issues,” Kurk said in explaining why Ventresco was chosen as town administrator.

“I think he will be extremely hard-working, and will dedicate himself to the town. I think he will be cautious in making any kind of judgments initially until he really feels the environment,” Kurk said.

Ventresco resigned as town manager of Madawaska on Dec. 19, 2005, after serving 18 months in that position, according to a story from WAGM of Presque Isle, Maine. Ventresco resigned for personal reasons, the story quotes Madawaska Selectmen Vice Chairman Richard Dionne as saying.

Although Kurk acknowledged Ventresco left the Madawaska town manager position for “personal” reasons, she said she did not believe he was asked to leave.

Police Chief Gregory Begin and Naomi Bolton, Weare’s land use coordinator, have served as interim town administrators since Christensen’s resignation. Begin and Bolton served on a voluntary basis, and were not assigned a set number of hours for town administrator duties, Kurk said.

The town formed a three-person search committee following Christensen’s resignation, comprised of Terry Knowles, Richard Butt and Gene Bilodeau, Kurk said.

The town administrator’s duties include formulating annual budgets and acting as a liaison between the selectmen and town employees, department heads, the public and the media, as advertised on the town’s Web site.

The position was advertised to pay between $59,500 and $71,500.

Ventresco was the second recommendation from the search committee, after the first candidate failed to pan out, Kurk said.

Following a public hearing on June 5, Ventresco was expected to begin his employment with the town on June 16, Kurk said.

Now that he will no longer be performing any town administrator duties, Begin said he still appreciates the town knowledge that work afforded him.

“I thought my interim term as a town administrator was an awesome opportunity for me to get to know the other town departments,” Begin said.