Mathew Eddy was the top nominee of a pool of 20 applicants for the economic and community development director position, and the first choice by the search committee of the four candidates interviewed.
Eddy will be filling a post vacated by Daniel Stevenson, whose last day on the job in Biddeford was Oct. 25. Stevenson, who started with the city in early 2010, left to return to his hometown of Westbrook where he has taken a position as director of that city’s economic development department.
Eddy’s starting salary is $93,380. When he left Biddeford, Stevenson was making just over $98,000.
After the City Council unanimously approved Eddy’s hiring, members also gave him a round of applause.
Eddy, who earned his bachelor’s degree at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1980, and a master’s degree at State University of New York in Stony Brook, New York, the same year, most recently worked as director of economic development for Kennebunk from 2012 through July 2017.
He left to grow his own consulting company, Eddy Consulting Services, said Kennebunk Town Manager Michael Pardue.
Eddy has also worked as director of economic and community development for the towns of Brunswick and Westbrook, according to his resume. In addition, he has experience as a planner and was research and planning manager of the Maine State Housing Authority. In all, he has about 30 years of experience in economic development and and planning.
“Matt is well-recognized in the state in economic development,” said Biddeford City Manager James Bennett. With that experience as well as his experience in planning and with the state housing authority “he brings a new dimension to (the city’s economic development) office,” said Bennett.
Even before the sale to the city and subsequent closure of the Maine Energy Recovery Company waste-to-energy incinerator in the downtown area in 2012, the city and property owners in the city center and mill district have been working to revitalize those areas.
Since the sale of Maine Energy, “there’s been a dramatic change in the downtown,” said Bennett, who worked with Eddy in Westbrook (when Bennett was city manager there), but “we’re not at a point where we can rest.”
He said he believes Eddy can help the city deal with issues like parking in the downtown and mill district, finishing the RiverWalk, and bringing more improvements to the downtown.
Eddy said he hopes to help the city work on those issues and more.
“I’m real excited,” he said about working for Biddeford. He thinks the city is is in a perfect position to make changes and increase redevelopment efforts as the economy is doing well.
“We’re there,” said Mayor Alan Casavant, about the revitalization of the city. “It’s a question of bringing us to the next level. I know Mathew can bring us there.”
— Associate Editor Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324, or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
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