WESTBROOK – Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant might need to keep an eye out for two colleagues who recently won scholarships that will help them reach their goals – becoming city administrators themselves.

Alicia Gardiner, city comptroller, and Mike Foley, a four-term city councilor, were each awarded $1,500 educational scholarships from the Maine Municipal Association during a luncheon at Sunday River last Wednesday for their continuing education in the area of public administration.

The MMA gives only two scholarship awards per year for public administration education, and this year both awards were given to Westbrook residents.

“When they were presenting the award, they were saying that we’re both from Westbrook and we both want to be city managers and they were joking that Jerre [Bryant] better watch out,” said Gardiner.

“I think in both Mike [Foley] and Alicia’s [Gardiner] case, this is great. They are pursuing their education with a focus on municipal management in public-sector type of careers and I’m very proud of the fact that the two scholarships offered [through MMA] went to Westbrook officials this year. Both are very deserving of it,” Bryant said.

For Foley, the scholarship was icing on the cake. He won the scholarship last year, as well, and is hoping to finish up his associate’s degree in public administration he is earning online from Kaplan University this fall. He is also seeking re-election for a fifth term on the City Council.

Since he was in high school, Foley, 25, has been involved with the city. Foley was elected to a councilor-at-large seat on the City Council before he even graduated from high school.

“My goal is to someday be a town or city manager, a lot like Mr. Bryant. Probably in the next six to 12 months I’ll be trying to secure a position in municipal government,” said Foley. “One of the criteria [for the scholarship] is to be publicly involved and have aspirations to be in municipal management. I’ve had the aspirations for last decade or so. I’ve been significantly involved in my community as city councilor. I’m just finishing my fourth term and I’m seeking additional terms. That’s a significant amount of public service and commitment to community and I’ve been doing that for a while.”

Foley, who graduated from Westbrook High School in 2006, said part of the reason he took his current job at the Apple store “Genius Bar” in the Maine Mall was because the company ha a good education reimbursement program.

“It helps me go to school, but it doesn’t cover all of it,” Foley said.

Gardiner, 29, has been receiving some educational assistance through her position at Westbrook City Hall, but says after seven years of college and two young boys at home, a 4-year-old and 5-year-old, the tuition scholarship puts her even closer to her goals.

“After seven years of college I still have undergraduate student loans. It’s not like I’m paying tuition out of my pocket. The loans are financed and this scholarship helps a great deal,” Gardiner said.

A graduate of Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in public accounting, Gardiner said she has enjoyed learning more about the administrative parts of city system since she’s begun working with Westbrook. Gardiner said she hopes to finish her master’s in public policy and management through the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine by spring 2015.

During the two-hour ride home from the scholarship ceremony last week, Gardiner and Foley said they made a pit stop at Oxford Casino, a place Gardiner had never visited.

“I put in $10 in a dollar slot machine and spun twice and left with $30. Mike didn’t fare so well. I told him it must have been beginners luck. It’s the accountant side of me – I was up so I left,” Gardiner said.

Mike FoleyAlicia Gardiner