AUGUSTA — Kennebec County has a new emergency management director.

Angela Molino has worked for the past five years as emergency management director in Androscoggin County. Before that, she was Androscoggin County’s deputy director of emergency management, after serving as a grants specialist for the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

The Winthrop resident said she took the job to return to Kennebec County. She is expected to begin her new role Monday.

“I grew up in Kennebec County. When presented with the opportunity to continue the work I enjoy, in the county where I am from, I applied,” she said.

County Administrator Scott Ferguson said the Kennebec County Commissioners made the decision to hire Molino in large part due to her already being an active emergency management agency director in Androscoggin County.

Molino, who declined to give her age, said partnering with others in Androscoggin County was a good, productive experience. She said together those partnerships “realized the completion of many important projects that position the county towards a culture of community preparedness and resilience.”

She is to be paid $78,375 in her first year as director.

Molino was hired after two previous hires for the position failed to fill the spot long term after Sean Goodwin, who held the job for several years, retired in 2022.

Art True was appointed to replace Goodwin in 2022, but worked as director of the Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency for only 10 months before resigning in April 2023. He wrote in a brief note to Ferguson that he was stepping down for the betterment of the department and county, and for personal reasons.

Augusta police charged True in January with a Class C count of aggravated criminal invasion of computer privacy and a misdemeanor charge of stalking. His case has yet to go to trial, and he did not enter a plea at his initial court appearance.

True served previously as deputy director, and worked for more than a decade in various capacities in county emergency management.

The county hired John Brenenstuhl as EMA director in June 2023 to take True’s place, but Brenenstuhl stepped down after six months on the job, much of which he spent on paid administrative leave.

Goodwin, the longtime EMA director who retired, returned in the late summer of 2023 to serve as acting director, a position he held through Sunday, when he worked due to the storm in the region. Goodwin said he will continue to work part time for the county. He will oversee special projects.

The Emergency Management Agency is responsible for putting together the county’s all-hazard emergency response plan and keeping it up to date. It helps cities and towns with local disaster planning and, if needed, damage recovery efforts.

It also has a role in homeland security preparedness, which includes securing grant funding to pay for training and to acquire equipment for local emergency response agencies.

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