PHILLIPS – As the third town manager this year, James Collins has a lot of catching up to do.
Collins, 53, a native of Lewiston, who most recently was the Carmel town manager, began working here on Nov. 3. Collins replaces Lynn White, a longtime resident who served as town manager for two difficult months last summer. White endured a municipal shutdown after voters refused to approve the budget by the start of the July 1 fiscal year. The shut down continued until July 12 when voters overwhelmingly passed the budget in a 7-hour-long town meeting.
White told selectmen in August that he needed to resign due to personal family matters and stayed on the job part time until Collins was hired last month.
A veteran of several municipal governments, Collins got his first job managing the towns of Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman in Aroostook County in 1978. He left three years later when he accepted the town manager job in Bridgton. Another three years at that post and then he went to work as town manager for Freeport for two and a half years. He was the town manager of Jay beginning in 2000.
He was hired in 2005 to manage the town of Carmel. Collins’ resumé also includes code enforcement, regional planning and community development grant writing work.
Collins said he took the job here for a few different reasons.
“I’ve always liked this part of the state, this area, and I like managing in a smaller community,” he said.
As for the job, Collins said there is a lot to do.
“I’m the third town manager in less than one year so I’m trying to get things evened out, a lot to catch up on,” he said. Among the many priorities Phillips has, is the fact that the highway department’s equipment needs some serious updating.
“The town has three 1991 plow trucks running. That’s not good,” he said of their advancing age. “So we have to work on that.” And the road work started last year needs to continue.
“Residents are pleased with what’s been done, but there are significant roads that still need major work,” Collins said. A major change coming up is that the town office will be moving from its location on Main Street to the former primary school a few blocks away.
The heating system’s installation was completed last week and now new flooring is going in, along with the carpentry work that needs to be finished, such as the partitions for the offices.
“It will be nice,” Collins said, “to have it all on one floor.”
Besides his work at the office, Collins said he is looking forward to snowmobiling this winter and fishing and riding his motorcycle in the spring. And, he’s an avid Pats and Red Sox fan.
