The director of Maine’s Bureau of General Services has resigned his position with the state less then two months after the Maine Wire reported on a state contract he awarded to a landscaping company owned by his brother.
William J. Longfellow, a longtime state employee, had served as the director of the Bureau of General Services for several years, a role that tasked him with evaluating and approving vendor contracts.
In March, Longfellow signed off on a landscaping contract that was awarded to Longfellow Holdings, LLC, a company that is owned and operated by Longfellow’s brother.
Sharon Huntley, the director of communications for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, confirmed in a Monday email that Longfellow had tendered his resignation on Friday.
In July, when the Maine Wire first reported that Longfellow had signed off on the $812,776 contract award for his brother’s business, Huntley said in a written statement that Longfellow had “removed himself from the substance of the selection process” once he realized that his brother had responded to the Request for Proposal (RFP) in question.
“It is standard practice for Director Longfellow to sign contracts on behalf of the Bureau and its Divisions,” Huntley said at the time.
“Recognizing that he had a family member who may bid on the project, Director Longfellow removed himself from the substance of the selection process and informed the coordinator that he did not want to be aware of any of its details,” she said.
Huntley did not respond in July to follow up questions asking to clarify what she meant by “removed himself from the substance of the selection process.”
Huntley also said Longfellow had “no involvement” in drafting the agreement that he signed off on in March 2024.
Huntley declined to provide the Maine Wire with any supporting evidence — such as an email in which Longfellow recused himself from the contract evaluation process — to support her assertions that he was not involved in the award.
As the Maine Wire originally reported, Longfellow’s income disclosure, which he’s required to file yearly as a director-level government employee, did not list any income from Longfellow Holdings, LLC.
However, Maine’s income disclosure forms do not require disclosure of non-income producing assets, like shares of businesses a state employee may hold. Therefore, if Longfellow owned any shares of Longfellow Holdings, LLC, he would not be required under state rules to disclose that information.
Huntley declined to respond to an email asking whether Longfellow owned any shares in his brother’s business.
Longfellow did not respond to an email sent to his state email address.
According corporate filings with the Maine Secretary of State’s office, the landscaping company was formed by Alden Longfellow in Jan. 2023.
In 2022, as Director of the Bureau of General Services, Longfellow received $148,746 in annual compensation.
According to Huntley, the funding for the contract was secured by the state’s “Property Management Division” as part of the FY 2024-2025 biennial budget.
Under the terms of the contract, Longfellow Holding, LLC will now be responsible for cutting the grass and maintaining the shrubs at various state properties in the Augusta area, including the State House grounds — jobs that were previously done by state employees rather than contractors.
The reason for Longfellow’s resignation from the roughly $150,000 per year state job is currently unknown.
Read the Maine Wire’s original investigative report here:
