Two new faces joined the town staff in the past few weeks. John Flaherty, the new town fire marshal, and Susan Spang, the new part-time land use technician, were hired to fill vacancies in the town staffing profile.

When the town’s last fire marshal, John Planas, resigned from his post, the Board of Fire Commissioners got Bill Robbins to step in temporarily as town fire marshal while the board completed the search process for a new, permanent fire marshal. In the meantime, the town’s three deputy fire marshals at that time—Flaherty, Andrew Stino, and Aaron Gelber—agreed to continue performing required site inspections in support of the fire marshal.

Once the applications were received, they were screened and interviews with candidates scheduled. After the interviews, the Board of Fire Commissioners selected Flaherty as the board’s preferred choice. The other two deputy fire marshals will continue to assist the fire marshal by performing inspections as assigned.

Spang was also chosen after a search process. She was appointed by the Board of Selectmen at its July 15 meeting to fill the open slot of part-time land use technician. Her first day of work in Westbrook was July 23.

According to the job posting, the part-time land use office technician will work 17 hours a week in the Land Use Department performing office administrative and regulatory technical work assisting the zoning enforcement officer in receiving, processing, and acting upon regulatory applications. The position carries no benefits.