Biddeford’s young mayor taps a veteran municipal manager to help bring stability to a city that appears rudderless and unable to escape chaos
By RANDY SEAVER | Editor
While still plagued by internal chaos and rampant staff turnover at City Hall, Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain today announced that the city will likely hire an interim city manager later this month.
The announcement comes at a pivotal time for the city. The new mayor’s six-month honeymoon is coming to an end while public cynicism about the city’s condition continues to fester with little forward progress.
According to a press release, LaFountain has tapped Cornell Knight – a well-known and veteran municipal manager — to serve as interim city manager while the city continues seeking a permanent replacement for City Manager Truc Dever.
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After serving only nine months on the job, Dever abruptly announced her resignation in April and will be officially stepping down from her post in August.
Over the last six months, LaFountain has had a hard time finding positive messaging, rebuilding public confidence or improving employee morale.
The city is still reeling from a myriad of problems that first came to light roughly three years ago during the watch of longtime city manager James Bennett.
Cornell Knight’s extensive managerial experience and age paint a stark contrast to a younger Truc Dever, who took over the reins in Biddeford with no experience as a city manager.
Biddeford’s 29-year-old mayor touted Knight’s more than four decades of extensive municipal experience.
Knight most recently served as acting city manager of Waterville from May 2025 through January 2026 and has stepped in as interim Town Manager in Pittsfield, Orono, Bar Harbor, and Farmington over the past three years, as well as working as an Interim County Administrator for Hancock County.
Will the hemorrhaging of public confidence stop?
Liam LaFountain campaigned on the ideas of accountability and transparency, and narrowly defeated incumbent former Mayor Marty Grohman in November.
The new mayor set a high bar of expectations for himself, but is still having a hard time finding his footing while facing mounting criticism from both the public and many city employees.
Within weeks after the election, LaFountain appeared to have strong and almost unwavering wavering support from the new city council.
But as evidenced during Tuesday’s city council meeting, the sheen is beginning to wear off. The new mayor no longer enjoys near unanimous support from the council.
In January, the council unanimously voted to enact a six-month development moratorium at the University of New England’s Biddeford campus.
Six months later, on Tuesday evening, LaFountain asked the council to extend that moratorium for another six months — but this time got a fair amount of pushback from Councilors David Kurtz and Abigail Woods.
Also in January, LaFountain convinced the council to file a lawsuit against the Saco River Corridor Commission in connection to UNE’s controversial pier proposal. The court ruled against the city, but the mayor refused to yield and pushed back. The city filed an appeal of the court’s decision. That appeal is still pending.
Outside looking in
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Beyond the city’s external challenges, internal pressures also show little outward sign of improvement.
Overdue financial audits that date back some three years remain undone. Several city positions remain unfilled; and a rigorous and controversial budget process created even more fractures in a city that today appears rudderless, especially when compared to the atmosphere of revitalization that was often celebrated just before the COVID pandemic put a damper on a new sense of optimism about the city’s future.
In March, the city hired a professional consultant to make recommendations about how to improve City Hall operations. City Clerk Robin Patterson then abruptly resigned.
About six weeks later, Dever announced her own resignation, indicating that she was facing unrealistic performance expectations from LaFountain and some members of the city council who were anxious to get the city’s ship righted in the wake of Jim Bennet’s mismanagement.
Meet the new boss
Many longtime city employees and others connected to City Hall blame LaFountain for pushing Dever from her post, saying the new mayor was being unrealistic, too ambitious and somewhat caustic with his strident push for accountability.
“He doesn’t have management experience,” said one veteran employee who spoke with the Gazette on the condition of anonymity. “He doesn’t know how to treat people or value their input.”
“He [LaFountain] doesn’t have
management experience.
He doesn’t know how to treat
people or value their input.”
One former city councilor said LaFountain’s biggest liability is his ambition. “He’s just trying to do too much, too quickly.”
Next week, the city will conduct public tours of City Hall and offer visits to see the recently renovated, gold-domed clocktower.
The tours are intended to highlight the city’s history and showcase a building that has been Biddeford’s political epicenter for more than 150 years.
While the refurbished clocktower is symbolic of the city’s proud history, other – not such visible — parts of City Hall paint a picture of malaise and neglect.
During a media tour of City Hall on Wednesday morning, participants saw a window boarded with plywood, where shards of broken glass had yet to be removed.
A first-floor break-room revealed broken ceiling tiles, exposed insulation and other damage caused last year from an air conditioning malfunction.
Those disrepairs betray the public message of a proud city rising where the river falls.
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Knight is walking into a situation that is undeniably chaotic and uncertain.
“I am honored by Mayor LaFountain’s confidence in nominating me for this role,” Knight said in a prepared statement that was released to the media without opportunity for follow-up questions.
Of note, Knight’s appointment was not mentioned 12 hours earlier, during Tuesday’s lengthy city council meeting.
“I am committed to working alongside Biddeford’s dedicated staff, serving its residents with the level of responsiveness they deserve, and partnering with the city council and mayor to ensure the city’s goals and priorities remain front and center,” Knight wrote in the press release.
Knight’s nomination will be presented to the Biddeford City Council for consideration at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, June 16.
If confirmed by a majority of the city council, Knight would begin serving as interim city manager on June 17.
LaFountain is clearly hoping that Knight will bring some much-needed stability to City Hall.
“Cornell brings the experience and depth of municipal expertise that Biddeford needs right now,” LaFountain said. “His track record serving municipalities across Maine reflects a steady and seasoned approach to local government. I am confident he will provide effective management and continuity for city operations.
On June 16, the city council will also consider selecting a firm to conduct a national search for a permanent city manager.
YOUR THOUGHTS?
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