SKOWHEGAN — Donnie Zaluski is well aware that the recent, unexpected death of Skowhegan’s town manager — and the criminal investigation that preceded it — has upended town government.

His goal as interim town manager: Keep the ship sailing, while the select board begins what is expected to be a monthslong search for a new hire.

“We need stability,” Zaluski said in a telephone interview Thursday. “We need people to come together. We need to take care of our people. It’s been tough on everybody, and our focus now is our employees.”

The five-member select board appointed Zaluski interim town manager Tuesday night.

The town hired Zaluski as superintendent of the Water Pollution Control Plant last spring. He plans to split his duties between the wastewater plant and the town office, putting a pause on some less-urgent projects at the plant. 

The board said in a statement that Zaluski will lead day-to-day business while they search for a new town manager.

Zaluski said immediate priorities are finishing the budget to be presented to voters at June’s annual town meeting, supporting town employees, and filling crucial, vacant positions, such as finance director. 

That position has been vacant since longtime town employee Trisha Austin resigned in September under circumstances that were deemed confidential. Former Town Manager Nicholas Nadeau, who died last week, had said he was waiting to fill it while the town caught up on three years of pending audits.

The town has also received offers of assistance from Somerset County, the Maine Municipal Association and the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, Zaluski said. He said he will lean on that support as well as the expertise of staff at the town office, such as Executive Secretary Angel Aguirre.

“The Selectboard is grateful for all the support that has been offered by Town staff, department heads, county officials, and surrounding communities at this time,” board members said in a statement.

Moving forward, Zaluski said the select board plans an overhaul to its search process for hiring a town manager. He said the hiring process will likely take at least six months and include a committee of community members and potentially a third-party consultant.

“We’re going to take our time,” Zaluski said. “We’re going to redo the review process. And we’re going to start fresh.”

The town’s top job has turned over multiple times in recent years.

Christine Almand, who was town manager for nearly a decade, resigned in 2023. Police Chief David Bucknam then filled in as interim manager for months.

The select board eventually hired Dawn DiBlasi, an attorney who was Somerset County’s administrator for 10 years. DiBlasi quit after one year.

A few weeks after her resignation, Nadeau was hired in an interim capacity, initially splitting his time between Skowhegan and another interim job in Fairfax, Vermont. Nadeau, who held a doctorate in education, had held other municipal posts in Maine and his home state of Vermont, including a one-year stint as Blue Hill’s town administrator.

He signed a contract for a permanent position in Skowhegan in September, effective through June 2028.

When past select boards hired DiBlasi and Nadeau, they did not engage the public in the search process or hire a search firm to consult them. 

Nadeau died suddenly last week. Authorities believe Nadeau, 32, died by suicide, although they have not released other details about his death.

In recent days, it unfolded that the Maine State Police Special Victims Unit had been investigating Nadeau in the weeks leading to his death. The investigation included searches of his Winslow home and the town office for evidence of child sexual abuse material, according to court records. 

Court records indicate police found some sexually explicit images and videos from devices seized from Nadeau’s residence, although authorities emphasized the investigation was in preliminary stages. It is unclear how much analysis investigators did of the electronic devices they seized during both searches and what they found.

Nadeau was never charged. State police said their case is now closed. 

Zaluski, 40, of Turner, previously worked for the Portland Water District and did offshore work in Alaska. He grew up in the area and went to high school in Madison. He has two young children.

His exact salary as interim town manager has not yet been set, but he said the select board agreed he would be paid an average of his salary and Nadeau’s.

Zaluski said his annual salary as superintendent is $96,500. Nadeau’s contract shows he was to be paid $120,000 per year, with a raise of 2% to 5% in July 2027 and possible other bonuses or adjustments at the select board’s discretion.

“We’re going to take it one step at a time,” Zaluski said of town officials. “We’re going to lead with kindness and community, and that’s what this town needs. We need to worry about our workers and we need to worry about the future of this town.”