VINALHAVEN — Andrew Dorr began work as the interim town manager for Vinalhaven on June 30.
Dorr is originally from a small town in New York. He graduated from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In his last year of college he was looking for a job and decided to apply to the Island Fellows Program at the Island Institute (publisher of The Working Waterfront). In 2011 he became the Island Fellow for Vinalhaven.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to see a new place, meet some new people, and live in Maine,” Dorr said. “Despite only having visited Maine a handful of times before taking the job, it didn’t take long to feel like it is where I belonged.”
During his two years serving the island he helped to draft a new town comprehensive plan.
“The opportunity to work with the committees on this project was an invaluable experience,” Dorr said. “I learned a lot about the town, its history, and how it functions, far more than I had ever known about the town where I spent the first 23 years of my life.”
After his tenure as a Fellow ended in 2013, Dorr continued to live on Vinalhaven and work with the Island Institute as an economic development associate. Last month, the island town’s board of selectmen voted to hire Dorr as interim town manager.
Marjorie Stratton, the previous town manager, is leaving to work as the business manager for School Union 93. This will be a new experience for Stratton.
“I’ve done municipal auditing, so I’ve audited schools, but this is my first time doing a job like this,” she said. “It’s going to be new and challenging and I really like that.”
She said her 12 years serving as Vinalhaven’s town manager were great.
“It was a complete learning experience,” she said. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Stratton said Dorr seemed like a good fit to the selectmen because of all he had learned about the island during his time as a Fellow.
“He cares about the town and I am sure he will do well,” she said.