---

In 2021, I was elected to serve on the Buckfield Board of Selectmen just as the town’s entire administrative staff had departed and only one experienced Board member remained. With no clear leadership and years of accumulated problems, Buckfield needed more than a volunteer board member — it needed someone who would roll up their sleeves and stabilize the situation.

After a year on the board, I resigned my seat to become Buckfield’s Interim Town Manager. I stepped into an office that had seen five managers come and go in quick succession, with no continuity or accountability. Financial audits were several years behind schedule, the transition from a Board of Assessors to a contracted single assessor had left property files in disarray, and the town had gone more than thirty years without a full property revaluation, putting us at risk of falling far behind the state’s valuation. To make matters worse, the office had just transitioned from one financial software to another, and the State had shut off our ability to register new cars.

My goal from day one was to bring order out of chaos. In October of 2022 I was hired on as the permanent Town Manager. I focused on establishing clear administrative procedures, ensured staff was properly trained, caught up on overdue audits, worked with the Certified Maine Assessor to begin organizing property files, and rebuilding the assessor’s records, eventually bringing on a staffed CMA. With patience, persistence, and clear communication, I guided the town through these transitions and laid the groundwork for a stable, accountable municipal office that residents could once again rely on.

This experience is the foundation of my consulting practice. Having restored order to a struggling town government, I help other municipalities stabilize operations, navigate leadership transitions, and implement systems that stand the test of time.