Bar Harbor Appoints Sarah Gilbert Interim Town Manager

The Bar Harbor Town Council came out of Executive Session on Tuesday night, January 31st and appointed Sarah Gilbert, the Finance Director the Interim Town Manager by a 6-0 vote (Councilor Dobbs was excused).

Gilbert has been the Finance Director since 2021. The appointment comes in the wake of Kevin Sutherland's resignation on January 26th.

Bar Harbor has just begun  the 2023-24 budget process  and is dealing with the implementation of cruise ship passenger limits as voted by the citizens in the November election and a subsequent lawsuit filed by business owners.

Maya Caines, the Communications Manager for the Town of Bar Harbor issued the following statement on the Council's search for a new Town Manager

The Council will not be using Eaton Peabody for the Town Manager search and have reached out to the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) to work on finding a replacement.

Eaton Peabody was the search firm that brought in Kevin Sutherland and previous manager Cornell Knight. They are also representing the plaintiffs suing the Town in the cruise ship lawsuit.

Val Peacock the Chair of the Bar Harbor Town Council stated

Sarah has been working for the Town for over 17 years and really knows how things work, especially for our budget work. Having an interim who knows the Town, the staff and the Council allows us to keep things running smoothly while we search for a new manager. We are so lucky to have an amazing team of people who are working for the town of Bar Harbor.

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