The City of Auburn has filled vacancies in the director positions of two of its departments: Economic and Community Development and Recreation. After a nationwide search, the city has hired Michael Chammings of Oxford to be its new Economic and Community Development Director. He will begin his tenure on January 19. Also, the city has hired Sabrina Best as its new Recreation Department Director. She will begin her tenure on January 25.

Michael Chammings has over twenty years of municipal management and economic and community development in various communities in Maine. During his tenure as the Town Manager of Oxford, he was instrumental in the success of the 2010 referendum and subsequent building and marketing of the Oxford Casino that was the state’s largest economic development project during a period of lack of growth. He has a strong background in job creation (800 in the last five years), economic development, community development, the State’s Tax Increment Finance program, grant acquisition and management, and financial management.

He received a B.A. in Public Management and an MPA from the University of Maine at Orono. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, he is active in veterans’ affairs across the region.

Sabrina Best has served the City of South Portland’s Department of Recreation, Parks and Waterfront in various capacities since 2006, most recently as the Leisure Service Manager. She has planned, organized and implemented youth sports programs and adult sports leagues, was the Facilities Manager for the Wainwright Recreation Fields Complex in South Portland, and has coached softball and basketball at SMCC.

She has an Associate’s Degree from SMCC and a Bachelor’s Degree from Southern New Hampshire University in Business Studies with a concentration in Sport Management.