Ephrem Paraschak began work as Gorham’s Town Manager in September 2017, following the retirement of David Cole. Paraschak had previously worked as the Town Manager in Denmark from 2008-2014 and in Naples from 2014-2017. Before becoming a Town Manager, he had worked in Gorham in engineering compliance. He is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in political science and history and has a Master’s degree from the University of Southern Maine in public management.

Paraschak describes the role of a Town Manager as someone who takes policy direction from elected officials (Town Council), interprets the direction, gives advice and executes the decisions. Maine communities primarily have a Town Manager form of government with managers reporting to a Town Council. The Town Manager gives the Town Council information, facts and figures, and they use this information to make important policy decisions, which the Town Manager then implements.

The budget is the biggest issue that the Town Manager deals with annually. This year it did not go up as much as inflation. Paraschak describes it as “trying to accomplish as much as possible while keeping funding under control.” Paraschak also tries to anticipate what the next big issue will be “but so much is going on, it is hard to do that”. He added, “we try our best to treat everyone fairly and equitably, but resources are always limited. First and foremost, listen and don’t jump to conclusions, and always try to be fair: