Kennebunk’s new Town Manager Heather Balser was sworn in on Monday Feb. 6 by Kennebunk Town Clerk Merton Brown. Town of Kennebunk Photo

KENNEBUNK – The community’s new town manager began her job here Monday morning, Feb. 6. Heather Balser was sworn in by Town Clerk Merton Brown, and then got down to business.

“It’s great to finally be in Kennebunk, we’re settling in and meeting folks,” said Balser. “I’m excited to start the job and jump into the work. I look forward to engaging community members and hope to see everyone soon.”

Balser has returned to the East Coast and her home state after years of living and working in Colorado.

She signed a three-year contract with the town on Dec. 21, one day after the select board’s unanimous vote to hire her from a field of five finalists.

As a Portland native, she grew up spending time in Kennebunk, particularly during the summer, and that continued on visits throughout her years in Colorado.

Balser has worked in municipal government for more than 24 years, mostly for the city of Louisville, Colorado, first as assistant city manager then deputy, then city manager. Its population, at 20,000, is larger than Kennebunk, which was pegged by the U.S. Census with a population of 11,699 on July 1, 2021. After leaving that position in August 2021, she worked in a nearby community as an interim resiliency officer on issues including homelessness and affordable housing.

Balser is married and she and her husband have two adult children, a daughter who teaches fifth grade in Indianapolis and a son who is a junior studying engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

In a December interview, she said she expected she and her husband would rent in town initially before buying a home in Kennebunk.

During her tenure in Louisville, Balser was instrumental in building an expanded recreation and senior center and acquiring an open space parcel, according to the Colorado Hometown Weekly newspaper, which noted Balser was crucial in managing recovery from 2013 floods, advancing an affordable housing development, and adopting the city’s first strategic plan.

“Heather is a very hard-working type of person,” Louisville Mayor Ashley Stolzmann told the Colorado Hometown Weekly in the 2021 story. “She never takes credit for her accomplishments but is always working behind the scenes to try and help our community get the very best outcomes.”

She is arriving in Kennebunk at a busy time – budget season. The proposed series of meetings of the select board and budget board were to begin Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Select board members have described Balser as calm, warm, no-nonsense and a “breath of fresh air.”