WATERVILLE — If ever there was a dream job for Andrea Pasco, this is it.

As the new executive director of the Humane Society Waterville Area, Pasco says she loves coming to work every day.

“It’s my ultimate passion. This is the job I’ve wanted my whole adult life.”

Pasco, 40, of Waterville, started in the position Dec. 8. It had been open since Paula Mitchell retired Oct. 5 after 18 years at the helm.

Pasco had worked 15 years at Kennebec Valley Community Action Program as health services team leader, a job she also loved, she said.

“It was a fantastic organization. I had every intention of staying there forever unless this position was available. This really has been my dream job, and it has been, since my early 20s.”

As executive director, Pasco supervises 11 people including a kennel manager, two office workers, a maintenance person, kennel technicians and more than a dozen volunteers. The shelter, which has a nine-member board of directors, operates on about $450,000 a year and contracts with 28 communities in Somerset, Kennebec, Waldo and Knox counties, Pasco said. The shelter runs on donations, money from fundraising and fees from member communities.

Humane Society Board President Jon Eustis said Monday that Pasco was among about 60 people who applied for the job and several who were interviewed.

“She’s just done a wonderful job,” he said. “She’s bright and articulate and brings a fresh view.”

Working in a 5-year-old shelter on Webb Road, Pasco is helping to raise money and develop policy, and speaks in the community about the organization.

“Our ultimate goal is to reduce euthanasia and increase adoptions so that these animals can find their forever homes,” she said. “That’s really the core of our work.”

She shelter now has about a dozen dogs, eight of which are ready for adoption; 50 to 60 cats, 30 of which are available; and rabbits and rats, according to Pasco.

She said people considering adoption may visit the animals from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

“There is something magical that sort of happens when you get that right fit,” she said.

Pasco and her husband, Scott, who have five grown children, are owners of two dogs, three cats and three ferrets.

She did not have pets growing up because her mother was allergic and her parents were not pet people, she said.

“I’d sit on the front steps for hours, petting the neighborhood cats,” she said. “My grandmother had a great big German shepherd mix. I was the only person who could take him for a walk because he’d be pulling everybody else down. He was my boy.”

When she moved into her own home, she got two cats. She and her husband raised their children to love and appreciate animals.

“They all have that love now,” she said.

Pasco and her daughter Rebecca are both former shelter volunteers and Rebecca worked there as a teenager.

Pasco said she welcomes visitors to the shelter.

“I’d like people to know that I’m totally accessible if they would like to meet me,” she said. “If they have concerns, if they have positive comments, come see me. I’d really like to get to know the folks in the community.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com