CAMDEN — Town Manager Audra Caler-Bell said Feb. 22 that she has hired a new planning and development director for Camden.

Jeremy Martin, who is currently with the City of Bangor, accepted the job and is to begin March 19. His starting annual salary will be $77,329.

“Jeremy will be coming to us with 17 years of municipal experience in land use planning and code enforcement,” said Caler-Bell.  “He was the Development Coordinator for Bangor and has most recently been the Director of the City’s Code Enforcement Division.”

Camden has been without a planner since Steve Wilson resigned in 2016 to take the building inspector job in Bangor.

Martin, “has experience working on a number of major development projects and land use policy changes in Bangor,” said Caler-Bell. “Jeremy’s transition to this role in Camden is a natural career progression for him.  He’s eager to be in a role where he has the opportunity to set a strategic direction for the town in terms of economic and community development and work towards its implementation.”

Caler-Bell hired Martin after reviewing 18 applications and following three candidate interviews.

Martin’s new role is to lead an integrated department that handles planning and economic projects, and land use policy management, “in a strategic and comprehensive manner,” said Caler-Bell.

His education includes earning a bachelor’s of arts in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in political science and geography at West Virginia University, and continuing education in environmental policy at Unity College, in 1996.

He supervised teams on the Maine Conservation Corps, was a natural resource specialist with the China Region Lakes Alliance, watershed and land use consultant for the Maine Association of Conservation Districts, environmental specialist for the Cobbossee Watershed District, and then became development and zoning coordinator for Bangor, and then director of that city’s CEO division Department of Community and Economic Development.

He has, “experience working as part of an interdisciplinary Planning and Development Department that has strategic goals in terms of economic and community development and works to implement these goals through development projects, changes in land use policy and having a focus on customer service and problem solving,” she said. “Camden needs this holistic approach and I’m confident Jeremy’s experience will position us to plan for, seek out and respond to community and economic development opportunities that are right for the town.”