WESTBROOK – Westbrook is taking a new approach in its search for an economic development director, changing the job title to assistant city administrator.

The city had been advertising for a business and community relations director, and at a City Council meeting on Monday, Mayor Colleen Hilton said a number of candidates expressed interest in the position. After vetting the applications, Hilton said, five candidates were interviewed, but none of those candidates were selected for the position. “We got a lot of interest, but we didn’t get the candidate we were looking for,” Hilton said.

The post has been vacant since January, when Keith Luke, the former director of community and economic development, stepped down after 31?2 years on the job.

Earlier this year, City Administrator Jerre Bryant said that the position was being refashioned into a “director of business and community relations,” with a salary range of $50,000 to $78,000.

Bryant said the city would be looking to emphasize the future director’s involvement in building relationships with businesses, community groups and governmental agencies on the local, state and federal level.

Bryant said the ideal candidate would have a background in marketing and communications. In addition to the grant-writing and economic planning duties, Bryant said, the director would be expected to help the city better present itself to the public, in particular through its website.

With no appropriate candidate selected in the first round of interviews, Hilton said, the city expects to repost the position sometime next week, with a new description. The position will now be known as assistant city manager and the candidate filling the position will focus on business and community relations, a job description that Hilton said she hoped would bring the right person to Westbrook.

In other news, the city of Westbrook is looking to show that it is “open for business.”

At the City Council meeting this week, Hilton announced that Westbrook would be submitting an application to become certified by the state as a “business-friendly community.”

The state’s Department of Economic and Community Development administers the program, which was announced by Gov. Paul LePage earlier this year. On June 6, LePage announced the first nine communities to be certified under the program, as Sanford, Augusta, Bath, Biddeford, Brewer, Bucksport, Guilford, Lincoln and Saco.

By being deemed business friendly, those communities will be recognized on the Department of Economic & Community Development’s website, they will become a key part of Maine’s business attraction strategy and an “open for business” sign will be displayed in the communities. Additionally, communities receiving the certification will receive bonus points in future Community Development Block Grant applications.

The business-friendly certifications last for two years, and new communities are selected on a quarterly basis.

South Portland had applied for certification in the first round, but the city’s application was rejected by the state. South Portland City Manager Jim Gailey said the denial was based on four critiques from the governor’s application review team.These included belief that South Portland has a “complex permitting process with vague timelines,” and that, “efforts to clarify process and decision making timeline need to be undertaken.”

Also, the review team said South Portland needed to undertake “more involvement/collaboration with Chamber (of Commerce),” while “use of Community Development Block Grant funds could be more aggressive/supportive of business.”

Hilton said that in the first round of applications, Westbrook tried to join a number of communities in the Portland-metro area to earn a regional certification, but the regional approach was not successful.

Anyone wishing to comment on Westbrook’s application can do so by submitting written comments to: Andrea K. Smith, Department of Economic and Community Development, 59 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0059. Comments, which are due by July 6, can also be submitted by email to bizfriendly.DECD@maine.gov.