Pending working out specific details of a contract, the Town of Raymond has a new Town Manager after the Raymond Select Board offered Susan L. Look the position during a Select Board meeting on Jan. 9.
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| Members of the Raymond Select Board have appointed Susan Look as the new Raymond Town Manager. Look had been serving in the role since July 2023 on an interim basis after longtime Town Manager Don Willard went on Paid Family Medical Leave and then officially retired Jan. 2. FILE PHOTO |
Don Willard had served as the Raymond Town Manager for more than 22 years when he left on Paid Family Medical Leave in July 2023, and he officially retired on Jan. 2. When Willard went out on leave last year, the Raymond Select Board then asked Look to stand in for Willard until his situation was resolved.
“From my perspective Sue, you have done a spectacular job in the last 6 ½ months,” said Joe Bruno, Raymond Select Board chair. “You’ve earned this. Well deserved. You’ve stepped up and it’s really appreciated.”
Prior to stepping in to act as the Interim Town Manager, Look’s service as Raymond Town Clerk and Registrar of Voters were not the only duties she had undertaken in her role with the town since she came to work there almost decade ago.
Through the years she has organized the Raymond Select Board’s monthly meetings, taken the Select Board meeting minutes, coordinated with all the people who want to be in the meeting and compiled requests for items to be placed on the agenda. In addition to organizing the town’s scheduled monthly Select Board meetings, and an occasional as-needed emergency meeting, Look has also prepared the warrant for Raymond’s Annual Town Meeting held on the first Tuesday in June every year.
As detailed in an August 2021 profile of her in The Windham Eagle, Look’s history of organizing and planning extends well beyond her time working in elections at the state level and although she was born in Maine, Look has lived all over the east coast and gained valuable experience along the way.
“My dad was in the woolen industry, and we followed the mill closings north,” Look said.
Altogether Look said in 2021 that she moved 40 times before settling into her current home. “I can pack out a kitchen quick,” she said. “And every time I moved, I would always make sure the beds were made before we finished for the day.”
The skills needed to pack up a household and keep calm while moving have helped Look obtain plenty of confidence needed to succeed in her new role as the Raymond Town Manager.
Look was born in Lewiston and has worked for the Town of Raymond since July 2014. She formerly served as the Town Clerk for the Town of West Bath and she was originally hired by Willard to replace longtime town clerk Louise Lester, who was retiring at the time.
Her father grew up in New Gloucester, and she has family connections in both Raymond and Windham. She is married and has two married daughters and two grandchildren, and lives in Richmond.
During her professional career, Look worked for L.L. Bean for 15 years and was promoted to manage the company’s customer name and address filing system. She was appointed as the Town Clerk in West Bath in 2004 and served in that role for five years before working for the Maine Division of Elections for another five years.
According to Bruno, the Raymond Select Board is currently formulating a transition plan to appoint a new Town Clerk and Registrar of Voters to succeed Look in those roles. <
