DIXFIELD – Jeff Jacobson has been almost overwhelmed by the welcome he’s received since he moved from Minnesota to become Dixfield’s new town manager.
“I can’t believe how nice people are here. I came from a rural farming community, but when I just walk into the grocery store, people say hello, some bend down to speak to my son,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “People stop into the office and welcome me to Maine. The selectmen have been helpful and asked if there was anything they could do.”
Jacobson, 25, his wife, Andrea, and their 1-year-old son, Tyler, moved from the Midwest about a month ago. They found a home in nearby Rumford, with neighbors who immediately welcomed the family.
This is his first town manager position and first time in the state, a state he’s beginning to explore while learning how towns operate local government. It’s much different than what he was knew in Minnesota.
In Maine, he said, local government is a lot more independent.
“Local government takes care of most things, with only a few things handed up to county or state government,” he said.
He is amazed at the speed and efficiency with which roads are cleared after a snowstorm. In Minnesota, he said the major roads would be cleared and the town roads would have to wait.
He’s also impressed with how much local residents can become involved in their town.
“There are 2,500 people there, and each one has just as much a say as anyone,” he said.
He’s also taken by the lack of competition between towns.
“There are aspects here in some respect, but generally people aren’t here to beat the other guy,” he said.
In the month since becoming town manager, Jacobson has finished the digging through and catching up stages, and he is now in the productive work phase, he said, preparing the annual municipal operating budget.
He’s hoping to build up capital reserve accounts for the future purchases of major public works, water system and fire equipment, and for building and maintaining roads.
“I want to even out spending. We try to build up capital reserves, but they aren’t set up with specific purposes in mind,” he said, adding that long-term planning is necessary.
He said he’s open to the idea of regionalization or other cooperative efforts among towns, as long as they increase efficiency and productivity.
In his off time, he and his family have taken day trips to surrounding communities and soon will visit the coast when he attends a town manager meeting in Ogunquit.
It’s taking some getting used to the mountains and the winding roads, particularly in the far western part of the state, he said, when he’s accustomed to straight, flat roads with cornfields on either side.
Because the mountains seem to obscure the sky, he said it’s also taking time to get used to the weather sneaking up. On the plains, he said, everyone can see the weather coming.
When he’s not learning the ropes of local Maine municipal government or exploring the state, he enjoys playing hockey, camping and fishing. And, now that he’s in Maine, he wants to learn to fly fish.
He had served as an intern under the city administrator of St. Cloud, Minn., who had worked as town manager in Easton, Maine, before returning to the Midwest.
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