Eastport's new city manager has fallen in love with the island city since arriving in July and says his mission will be to work on how he can help make the quality of lives of those who live in the city better and more prosperous. "I'm here to serve the people and to embellish what already is good here to become better," says Thomas Hoskins, who was hired by the Eastport City Council in a 5-0 vote at a special meeting on January 27. The city has been without a city manager since Ross Argir resigned at the beginning of November.
     According to council President Rocky Archer, a total of nine people applied for the position, but the council interviewed only two candidates. Of the decision to hire Hoskins, Archer says, "He was in our price range." He adds that the decision was based on Hoskins' previous work and his willingness "to work with our terms of employment."
     Hoskins, who began work on February 3, will receive $55,000 a year with a benefit package, under a one-year probationary contract with a review by the council after six months. According to Archer, Hoskins is willing to lock in with a three-year contract, but the terms have not yet been worked out.
     One of Hoskins' first tasks will be to prepare the city budget for the coming fiscal year. Former Calais City Manager Jim Porter, who was hired on an hourly basis by the city council in January, is helping him with the budget and in learning the job. Hoskins says the budget "will be on track" for approval by the council in June.
     Hoskins notes that he has budgetary experience, having been responsible for a $554 million budget at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He worked there for nearly eight years, until 2019, as a senior hospital administrator, including as strategic employee engagement analyst director and as corporate IT finance analyst. He says he was responsible for three divisions with 2,500 workers, out of the hospital's 47,000 employees.
     Last year, he says, he "decided to do something dramatically different." He first went to Vermont, where he had been planning to shoot a pilot television production about dogs. He notes that proposal was a $3 million project for a TV production studio and would have needed state funding. However, the state "didn't have the money for that," so he left, put his two golden retrievers in the car and went to the farthest point in Maine, since he had lived near the water much of his life. "I found a great place to live, where I'm really, really happy," he says. He arrived in July and "loved it. There are so many great things going for it." People reached out to him and were very kind. In September he bought a house across from the former city hall building and had it renovated so he could move in by Thanksgiving. "I like to move quickly," he notes.
     He applied for the city manager position because he "felt there was lots of opportunity to do great things." Noting that he's "big on education," with the New York hospital having a program to provide funding for students to go to college and then have a job at the hospital, he says he can use his years of expertise in television, the corporate world and marketing "to help Eastport and to serve this community and hopefully make Eastport more prosperous."
     Before he worked at the New York hospital he was an executive producer and on-air show host for Great Lifestyles Television Productions for a Fox-affiliated TV station in the Midwest. Hoskins says he is continuing to be involved with TV production and is planning on a production "all about dogs" in Eastport. A camera crew was in Eastport at the end of January, and the production will be shot this summer. "People in Maine love their dogs," he notes, and the show will be about where people take their dogs and how they travel with them. The show will be "shopped out to network TV" for national distribution.
Hoskins also was a corporate visual merchandising regional director for Macy's Department Store in Miami, Fla. He helped with marketing of new Macy's stores for 14 years, working with city officials and developers.
     His five "hot topics" to work on in Eastport are: a return of manufacturing industries to the city that would employ 150 to 200 people; travel and tourism, with Hoskins noting that the ocean draws people and helps communities become profitable; school programs that will tie in with aquaculture to take advantage of what already exists in the area; downtown retail development; and senior healthcare, with services provided to seniors at their homes.
     While grant-writing is not in his background, he says he can work on obtaining money for projects from corporations and other sources. With his former television show he worked with national sponsors to help fund the production.
     After being on the job for a week, Hoskins remarks that he is working with "a great staff. They're very dedicated city workers."
     Concerning his commitment to staying as city manager, he says, "This for me is the long haul. I'm not a job hopper." And as for working in a small community, he notes that he grew up in a small town in Ohio. "I like the simplicity. I like the connections with neighbors, and I like the connections with the community."
     "I am very passionate about Eastport and very happy to call it my home," he says. "I love the idea that we're the smallest city in the state of Maine with the biggest agenda."