BREAKING NEWS: Southwest Harbor names town clerk new town manager
SOMESVILLE, Dec. 6, 2021 - The select board has talked veteran town clerk Marilyn Lowell into taking the town manager job, vacant for almost a year since the board fired Justin VanDongen in January, it was announced Monday.
The Select board approved a three-year agreement with Ms. Lowell at its meeting Monday afternoon.
Lowell lives in Ellsworth. She has been town clerk since 2013. She has also held the position of Assistant Town Manager and Interim Town Manager while working for Southwest Harbor. She was previously the Town Clerk for the Town of Hancock for 11½ years before coming to Southwest Harbor. She has an A. S. Degree in Human Services from the University of Maine, Bangor.
Lowell will start work Dec. 13.
The Select board had a false start in September when former Florence, Colo. city manager Michael Patterson withdrew his selection as incoming SWH town manager after QSJ disclosed he was convicted in 2008 of assaulting his wife in front of minors.
In November, Patterson was taken into custody at Denver International Airport on a warrant charging him with four counts stemming from an alleged incident that took place Aug. 30, days before he was announced as SWH’s new town manager. They included two counts of stalking-emotional distress, a Class 5 felony; sexual contact-no consent, a Class 1 misdemeanor; and providing alcohol to a minor, also a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Earlier this year, QSJ asked Marilyn Lowell if she would consider the town manager’s job, and she said at the time she had enough to do as town clerk.