ROCKPORT — A Maine Land Use Commission planner is moving to the Rockport desk of planning and community development, beginning his new job as director there Nov. 14. James Francomano, of Belfast, was officially acknowledged as filling the position Oct. 14 by the Rockport Select Board at a regularly scheduled meeting.

“He certainly is at a point in his career that this is a good step,” said Rockport Town Manager Rick Bates, on Oct. 15. “This gives him the opportunity to show his stuff.”

The Rockport office of Planning and Community Development was created in 2004, with the position first filled by Tom Ford. When he retired in 2013, Bill Najpauer was hired and worked for Rockport for a year, but left in June to assume a job in the town of China to be closer to his home. Since Najpauer left, longtime Rockland City Planner Rodney Lynch stepped in to help the town while it searched for a new candidate.

Francomano has been hired with an initial salary of $54,000, with incremental incentive raises up to $1,200 annually over the next three years, said Bates. Francomano will begin with a six-month probationary period.

“He has had quite a bit of experience in planning in Presque Isle, helping get them more than $600,000 in grants,” said Rockport Select Board Chairman William Chapman, Oct. 14. “We are looking forward to him picking up the ball [for Rockport] and getting it rolling again.”

Chapman cited the arrival of two subdivision applications to the town office (a four-lot subdivision on 15 acres on South Street proposed by Kay Tolman, and the five-lot Maine Farmland Trust subdivision on Park Street on 80 acres, and which straddles the Rockport-Camden town line), the rising level of business activity in town, and the annual work by the Ordinance Review Committee.

Bates and an interview team of four narrowed the list of candidates who applied for the job down from 12 to four, and then to Francomano. The team consisted of Select Board members Tracy Murphy and Ken McKinley, as well as Rockport Planning Board Chairman John Alexander and Interim Planner Rodney Lynch.

Francomano is halfway through the process of acquiring his code enforcement training, said Bates.

Scott Bickford is Rockport’s current code enforcement officer. Rockport created the community development director position following a period when Rockport’s business and residential development was increasing.

Francomano is currently employed as a senior planner for the Maine Land Use Planning Commission with previous employment with tBelfast as the assistant planner/alternate code enforcement officer  and city planner for Presque Isle.  Prior to that, he was a senior planner for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission in Massachusetts, as well as some work in the private sector, “making him well rounded and uniquely qualified for the position,” said Bates.

He is a graduate of Yale University with a bachelor’s of arts in architecture. He attended Pepperdine University School of Law and received a J.D. Degree in 2003.

Reach editorial director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657