Municipal management is in John Bohenko’s blood.

Bohenko, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was hired as Saco’s City Administrator in October. He has more than 40 years experience in municipal government, and his previous roles include town administrator of North Andover, Massachusetts, town manager of Plainsville, Connecticut, and city manager of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

He retired in 2020 after serving as Portsmouth’s City manager for 23 years, then stayed on a year as a consultant to help then new city manager transition.

In 2022, Bohenko took on the position of Interim City Manager for Claremont, New Hampshire, and found that he still had an itch to scratch when it came to municipal management. He kept his promise to his wife to do some traveling after the position in Claremont ended, then set his sights on a new job.

He was one of 29 applicants for the position of Saco City Administrator. Nine candidates participated in a rigorous essay process, with three candidates moving forward to a multiphase interview process with a community panel, city staff members, and the City Council. Bohenko made the final cut, and was voted into the position by the City Council on Oct. 3. He started the job a week later.

Bohenko said he looks forward to being involved in upcoming projects including the erosion mitigation project with the Army Corps and the building of the new water resource recovery facility. He also looks forward to working with the economic development department to try to expand the tax base, and with the public works and recreation departments to continue their services.

“I really enjoy working with department heads, and working to create a real positive culture around what they do. I also enjoy working with the City Council – they have the policy side of the house, we have the administrative side. From time to time, they need information about things so that they can make an informed decision on what type of policy they want to implement, albeit an ordinance, or a zoning change or budget, and we’re here as a resource for the city council and the mayor,” he said. “Also, once the City Council decides what needs to be done, we move to implement it. I enjoy that… seeing things accomplished, and looking back and saying, ‘we worked really hard on that, and it was a good thing.”

Bohenko said he has an extensive background in financial planning. He said Portsmouth had some tough times after Pease Airforce Base closed. Under his guidance, over the course of 20 years, the city built back its financial ranking and achieved the highest bond ranking.

 He is also familiar with some of the issues that a coastal city like Saco faces.

“I worked at a seacoast community for 23 years, so that kind of attracted me to Saco – the seacoast type of community and challenges that they have. I went through a lot of that in Portsmouth, so I’m familiar with some of the key issues - climate change and those types of things that are affecting seacoast communities. I was city manager when we rebuilt the wastewater treatment plant in Portsmouth, and I’ll be working with Howard Carter to build a new water resource recovery facility on the current site to deal with climate resiliency.”

Saco is in an excellent financial position, said Bohenko, and has great staff and leadership. He said the department heads are experts in what they do, and he sees himself as a resource they can rely on.

“I do believe that you can build a culture in an organization. I think Saco has a good base with really good department heads,” he said. “It’s a matter of working with them and together and moving it forward.”

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at [email protected].