JAY – Ruth Marden is at the top of her game.

The Jay town manager was elected Sept. 1 by her peers to lead the Maine Town and City Management Association during a year that could become rocky for municipalities because of tax reform efforts.

As president of the association, an organization dedicated to professional development of its members and assisting communities looking to develop the town manager plan, Marden is looking forward to a productive year.

“It’s an honor to be elected as president of an organization, to be elected by my peers considering I’m from a small western Maine town and the previous president was from Auburn and the one before that York,” Marden said Wednesday.

It was Marden’s primary task last year as vice president of the association to oversee professional development.

“It was a very successful year,” she said. “It built a lot of bridges with other professionals working in municipalities.”

The mission of the organization is to broaden the knowledge and promote values necessary for Maine’s local government administrators to better serve their communities.

The 54-year-old grandmother of two said she wouldn’t be able to be involved in state leadership roles if it wasn’t for the selectmen and staff making it easier for her to fulfill her responsibilities.

Marden oversees a town that has nearly 5,000 residents and has a taxable property base of more than a $1 billion.

The town’s $17.7 million budget represents nearly $1 million for Franklin County taxes, a school spending package of nearly $11 million, and a $5.5 million town government budget.

Jay is home to two paper mills, a power plant, a chemical plant and other businesses.

The town’s tax rate has increased less than a $1 per $1,000 of valuation over the last six years. This year the rate was set at $16.30 per $1,000 after remaining at $15.80 per $1,000 of valuation for the previous three years and $15.40 per $1,000 for two years before that.

“That is just unprecedented, holding the line on tax rate,” she said.

Marden grew up in Phillips, graduated from Phillips High School and attended Victor Business School in Portland.

She also served as a medications technician at the Strong Nursing Home for 13 years.

Her interest in municipal government started to intensify in the 1980s.

She took courses and became certified as a Maine assessor and code enforcement officer, and served as a Strong selectman for nine years.

When an opportunity for an administrative assistant’s job in Anson became available, she went for it.

“It sounded like a wonderful challenge because I’d really fallen in love with municipal government,” she said. “It just clicked for me.”

Since then, municipal government has become a passion for her.

“I like the challenge of working through budgets. I love the legal challenges that are presented every day, and research,” she said, with emphasis on the latter. “You deal with something different in every minute of every day. You’re never bored. One day I may be at the site of a sewer break and that afternoon I may be in a meeting with the mill manager from International Paper. It’s so diverse and all the time you’re looking out for the best interest of every citizen of the town.”

“I do have a passion and I like to share my passion with others,” she said.

Marden is involved in many groups and makes her rounds around town speaking at different organizations to share the town’s news.

“I like to spread information, good or bad,” Marden said “I think the public has a right and I have an obligation to share information.”