DURHAM – Ruth Glaeser of Topsham will begin her new job as administrative assistant in Durham on Thursday, Nov. 6.

Glaeser, who is finishing up her duties as deputy town clerk in Gardiner, fills a vacancy left when Janet Smith left the job on Sept. 9. As part of her $41,000 contract, the Durham Board of Selectmen allowed Glaeser to begin with a week’s vacation, because someone resigned at the Gardiner Town Office and Glaeser wanted to get the city through the elections.

The administrative assistant is the top administrative position in many rural towns such as Durham, which do not have town managers.

Jeffrey Wakeman, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, announced the hiring on Oct. 22. Wakeman said that the board considered 19 candidates to replace Smith, and interviewed five of them. Smith was earning $51,500 when she left the Durham job to become town manager in Richmond.

Glaeser “had a very good background in municipal government, and being able to do all the things you need to do to keep this office going,” Wakeman said. “She has not held an administrative position, so there will be some learning involved, but she has a good all-around background.”

Glaeser, 47, is taking her first position as a municipal administrator. She earned a degree in finance from Stonehill College, and moved to Maine from Connecticut six years ago.

“This is exciting,” Glaeser said. “I’ve been working on this for a while.”

Glaeser said she will be moving to an area of municipal government that she prefers.

“The job I have in Gardiner is the clerk side of it, and I’m much more comfortable with numbers,” she said. “I’m pretty knowledgeable about all the different positions in the Town Office, like the clerk, the tax collector and some of the treasurer’s jobs.”

She will have two employees – Shannon Plourde and Pamela Cloutier – working for her in the Durham Town Office. Plourde is the town clerk, deputy treasurer and tax collector, while Cloutier is deputy treasurer, tax collector and town clerk.

Glaeser lives with her daughter, Charlotte, and her son, Nicolas.

“I love Maine with its four seasons, beautiful coastline and friendly people,” she said.

She will continue her part-time job as a bookkeeper at Taurus Systems, Inc., of Bowdoinham.

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