Portland’s Director of Health & Human Services Announces Plans to Leave City Post

PORTLAND, Maine – Portland City Manager Mark Rees today announced that the City of Portland’s Director of Health & Human Services, Doug Gardner, plans to leave his post at the end of the month for an opportunity in the private sector. For 15 years, Mr. Gardner has served the City in two capacities, first as the Long Term Care Administrator at the Barron Center, and for the last nine years as the Director of the H&HS department. Mr. Gardner is leaving to take a position as the Vice President of Operations for North Country Associates, a Maine-based Long Term Care company located in Lewiston, Maine.

“Doug’s passion and understanding of the issues surrounding health and human services in Maine has made him an excellent advocate for the residents of Portland,” said Mark Rees, City Manager. “While we are sad to lose his leadership, we wish him well in his new endeavor.”

“I have had the privilege to work with so many truly amazing and inspiring people and organizations during my tenure with this great City,” said Doug Gardner. “The diversity in experience afforded me in my roles with the City will serve me well as I embark on the next chapter of my professional career.”

When asked to reflect upon his time with the City, Gardner said, “While I am certainly proud of so much we have been able to accomplish, including, retooling the City’s restaurant inspections program, protecting our citizens from secondhand smoke, healthy living initiatives, welcoming new Mainer’s to Portland, and high quality, compassionate care provided at the Barron Center each and every day, I think I am most proud of what we have achieved in the area of homelessness.” One of those accomplishments includes the development and implementation of the City’s Seven-Point Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, an individualized comprehensive approach to the multi-faceted causes of homelessness. As a result of these efforts, hundreds of single adults and families are placed in permanent housing each year, and for the first time in many years, the City is seeing fewer homeless adults staying at City shelters.

Gardner’s last day of service will be June 27, 2014. Rees has appointed Julie Sullivan, the current Director of the Public Health Division, to be the Acting Director of the Health & Human Services department while a search is performed for a new director.