AUGUSTA – Stephan Bunker, vice chairman of the Farmington Board of Selectmen, recently advanced to president of Maine Municipal Association.

Bunker took office at MMA’s March executive committee meeting. He succeeds  former Ellsworth City Manager Michelle Beal, who left municipal government to take a position with a law firm in Bangor.

MMA’s new leader and the entire 12-person executive committee will have an important, near-term task of replacing Executive Director Christopher Lockwood, who recently announced he will retire in August after 36 years as the head of the organization.

Bunker said naming Lockwood’s successor is the organization’s top, immediate priority. He expressed confidence in the process because of the strength and diversity of MMA’s Executive Committee and MMA management. They will play key roles in the search process, which has begun.

Bunker retired in 2011 from his position as operations manager for the state of Maine’s Emergency Services Bureau (E911). He has held many public positions over a 40-year career. He is a member of the Farmington Fire and Rescue Department, serves on the Maine Fire Protection Services Commission and is a retired lieutenant commander with the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves.

He is a former military policeman and K-9 handler, emergency medical technician, police officer, juvenile crisis counselor, emergency dispatch and corrections supervisor, and he held the post of executive director of the Maine Sheriffs’ Association.