Biddeford City Manager Jim Bennett announced his retirement last week. Contributed / City of Biddeford

Biddeford City Manager James “Jim” Bennett has announced his retirement, effective April 18 of next year. 

At a City Council meeting last Tuesday, Bennett said he will begin a “phased” retirement, giving the city over six months to fill the city manager position. 

“We’ve been given a considerate amount of time,” Mayor Martin Grohman said. 

Bennett said he began his career in his hometown of Lisbon, where he was elected selectman at the age of 21. In his 42 years of public service, Bennett has managed eight Maine municipalities, including Presque Isle, where he served as manager from 2010 until 2015; Lewiston from 2002 to 2009; and Westbrook, from 1997 to 2002. 

In 2015, Bennett began his tenure as Biddeford city manager, stepping into a community that, at the time, was in a state of unrest. 

“I am proud that I’ve left every community I’ve served in a better position than when I started,” Bennett said. “Biddeford is no different.” 

Biddeford was facing allegations relating to sexual assault in 2015, Bennett said, and the relationship between city management and employees was acrimonious. 

Employees picketed outside City Hall, and there was so much concern about the safety of city councilors that at his first meeting as manager, Bennett recalled state troopers being present. 

The city’s tax rate at the time was $18.36 per mil, and the wastewater fund had a deficit of more than $4.6 million. 

Those issues have now been addressed, Bennett said last week. 

“This community is a better community and has done well,” Bennett said. “While I don’t claim to have done all of this, I do certainly claim to have participated in it.” 

Over the course of his career, Bennett said he tends to step into working communities facing significant difficulties, including Biddeford. 

Bennett called himself a “change agent” last week, and admitted that the last couple of years as city manager have been “extremely challenging” due  in part to changes in the finance department. 

In addition, in recent months there has been criticism of how city leadership has handled a controversial proposal of a new pier on the University of New England Biddeford campus; also during Tuesday’s meeting, several members of the public said they were unhappy with the leadership of the city.

But through the challenges, Bennett maintained that he is leaving Biddeford better than when he found it.

“Biddeford is now the place to be,” Bennett said. 

Mayor Grohman thanked Bennett for his service last week, wishing him well in his retirement. 

“You’ve accomplished so many good things for the City of Biddeford over the last nine years,” Grohman said.