WATERVILLE — Finance Director Heather Rowden is leaving the city of Waterville for a similar position in California after working just over a year on the job.

City Manager Mike Roy said Rowden submitted her resignation Tuesday and her last day will be Aug. 3. He said she is leaving for a better-paying job in Albany, California.

“We’re happy for her in that regard, but we’re certainly very sorry to lose her,” Roy said. “She did a great job getting acclimated to municipal finance while she was here. She had the respect of all our departments heads and the City Council. We are going to miss her.”

Rowden, who earns a salary of $73,191, will be taking a comparable position in California, Roy said, but added that further comment would have to come from her.

Rowden was on vacation Tuesday and did not respond immediately to requests for comment sent via phone and email. A message left at Blue Wave Dance Studio, a dance studio that Rowden owns in downtown Waterville, also did not generate an immediate response.

Rowden was hired by the city around January 2017 to fill a position left vacant by Chuck Calkins. Before coming to work for the city, she was tax section manager for Maine Revenue Service and had worked there for several years.

At the time she was hired, Roy said the position had been difficult to fill because of the salary range the city was offering, which was $65,000 to $75,000.

A 2004 graduate of Waterville Senior High School, Rowden earned an accounting degree in 2009 from Ashford University, in Iowa, with which she took online classes. She obtained a master’s degree in business administration in 2013 from Thomas College.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm

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