Southport Interim City Manager Bonnie Therrien is in a unique situation. Her current position, which she took Nov. 1, Southport isn’t in Therrien’s long-range plans. In the short-term, however, she has the opportunity to offer an outside point-of-view of what the city should be looking for in its next city manager to ensure her successor stays for a good while. Southport has had five city managers in the past decade, and is in search for another as 2022 comes to a close.
Since she started working with the city, Therrien has met with staff while also getting up to speed on the major projects currently underway. During her first appearance at the Nov. 10 Southport Board of Aldermen meeting, Therrien recommended the city start looking for a permanent city manager as soon as possible.
“I think this is a golden opportunity because I’m going to help them find a new city manager,” Therrien said. “Now that I know what all of the issues are and what the staff is thinking, hopefully I can help with the pros and cons for candidates, so that managers coming and going will stop. The city needs to have some consistency.”
Smooth transition
Therrien came to Southport from Wethersfield, Conn., and feels the two communities have a lot in common. Wethersfield is the oldest town in Connecticut and has a waterfront and historic district. The similarities between the two locations drew Therrien to her new position, as did its proximity to her home in Supply.
“Wethersfield faced many of the same issues as here,” said Therrien. “When I saw Southport had an opening I thought it would be a good opportunity, having come from a similar situation. I’m going to try and do as much as I can to get this ready for the next person to jump in. If there are issues and problems that I can’t take care of before that person arrives, then that’s what I see my role is: ensure a smooth transition.”
Major city projects
Therrien says she enjoys the interim status because it affords her the chance to be honest about issues facing the city. Southport has nine major city projects on its plate: shoreline stabilization; the Sunny Point debris pile; pump station rehab; sewer replacement; merger feasibility; Mulberry Branch sewer; the kayak launch; and Taylor Field. Therrien has spent the past several weeks figuring where they are, in terms of progress, who’s in charge of each one and their funding deadlines. She wants to start holding bi-weekly meetings with staff on the various projects to ensure funding opportunities aren’t missed and that deadlines are met.
“My biggest thing is getting my mind wrapped around all of these projects,” Therrien said. “There are so many going on. We’re trying to have a lot more policies and procedures than they previously had, or are updating them. We have a lot of experience and we can actually work on a lot of those things.”
Therrien said she always goes into an interim position telling staff, “I may be saying things, or being blunt, but it’s for your own learning experience… I’m not looking for a job permanently, so it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Capital planning
Therrien hopes to meet with aldermen before the end of the year to learn what qualities each one is looking for in the next city manager. While the board of aldermen makes the final determination, she said the city should look for someone with both budgeting and project management experience. Southport, said Therrien, doesn’t appear to have a long-range capital planning plan in place for its facilities, and that is something that should be looked at.
“How do you budget, especially capital-wise, if you don’t know how much all of these buildings are going to cost to keep them up?” said Therrien. “I’d like to bring someone in who could do that for us. It’s probably time we look at getting the police department a building of their own.
“What about all of the fire houses?” she asked. “We need to have some capital planning.”
Personable and experience
Being such a small community, Therrien believes Southport should look for a city manager who is personable and with prior experience in the position.
“I think Southport is the type of community that wants to know their city manager,” Therrien said. “I think that’s a big quality. There are a lot of volunteers here, and getting to know them is important. Staff really wants leadership and I think they are going to need those leadership qualities.”
In her opinion, it should definitely be someone who has been a city manager before.
“I think it’s hard to transfer to government from the private sector,” Therrien stated. “It’s a different animal. As an interim, you get to see what you think are the strengths that need to come from the new person, but it ultimately comes from the aldermen. If they could find someone like that it would be great.”
