WESTBROOK – Dawn Ouellette, the first Westbrook chief financial officer to oversee both city and school finances, is stepping down after 18 months on the job.
Ouellette, 37, who took over after the controversial dismissal of the city’s former finance director, Susan Rossignol, and helped meld the city and school finance departments, will be leaving her position as of June 30, 2012.
“We are all very appreciative of the groundbreaking accomplishments Dawn achieved for Westbrook in less than two years,” said a letter announcing her departure, signed by Mayor Colleen Hilton, City Manager Jerre Bryant, Superintendent Marc Gousse and School Committee Chairman Ed Symbol. “She is a highly accomplished professional, her insights and technical skills will be greatly missed and we wish her all the best as she embarks on exciting new experiences on the personal side of her life.”
Ouellette had already been scheduled to go on maternity leave on Feb. 3. When asked why she was leaving, Ouellette said the hours required to do the job of chief financial officer are demanding enough on the parent of one child, and with two children, she feared she would not be able to give both her position and her family the time that both deserve.
The daughter of a U.S. Marine, Ouellette was born in Brattleboro, Vt., but spent her childhood moving around a lot with her family. When she first began working for the city, she moved from Northfield to Buxton with her husband and daughter, now 51?2.
This week, officials said they will miss Ouellette, and described her as being largely responsible for seeing the city through a difficult transition period. Ouellette also worked closely with Gousse and the school committee in a last-minute scramble to cut a $3.7 million budget gap for the 2011-2012 school year.
“It’s going to be difficult for us,” Gousse said. “She’s brought a lot to the table.”
Gousse, a parent himself, said he sympathized with the task of balancing a demanding work schedule with a new addition to the family.
“It’s a lot of nights out,” he said. “It’s a lot of meetings.”
Ouellette is the first to fill the city’s newly-created position of chief financial officer. In 2010, Hilton created the position after declining to reappoint Rossignol as finance director.
The new position was designed at the time to run both the city and school district’s finances, and was one of several moves Hilton made to combine multiple department heads into single positions.
Hilton said the city made the right decision to hire Ouellette, and will be sad to see her go.
“She’s been awesome for us,” Hilton said. “She was the right person at the right time.”
Symbol said he was on the committee that helped choose Ouellette for the position.
“She was my choice,” Symbol said. “When we interviewed, she was by far the best choice.”
The city had already planned for Ouellette’s absence during her maternity leave by hiring former South Portland Finance Director Rocco Marzilli, who also served as director of finance and administration at ecomaine, a nonprofit waste management company. The city’s letter indicated he would remain with the city on a “per diem” basis.
Bryant and Hilton said Wednesday that the city would simply use the time Ouellette will spend on maternity leave to select a new candidate for the position. Hilton said that the city has had two years to iron out the details of how the chief financial officer’s position works, and that will make it easier to select a successor to Ouellette.
“Other communities have gone this route, so I don’t think it’s as unique as it was two years ago,” Hilton said.
Ouellette herself, Hilton said, helped the city define the position.
“She helped define it, she crafted it, and she wore it,” Hilton said.
Dawn Ouellette, the first Westbrook chief financial officer to
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