PHILLIPS – James “Jim” Collins has met a lot of new people since he began as town manager here on Nov. 3 and plans to meet more.

Collins, of Phillips, is not new to the area, having managed the towns of Jay and Fayette earlier in his career.

He most recently served as Carmel’s town manager from April 2005 to July this year.

Collins, 55, has “significant public service experience” that includes town management, code enforcement, land use planning, bid preparation, community development grant writing and program administration, law enforcement, budgeting and finance, road maintenance and construction, according to his resume.

During his career, he helped make improvements to each of the towns he has overseen and was a successful grant writer to ease the tax burden for projects.

He started out in 1976 as a law enforcement officer at the University of Maine in Orono, moved on to manage the towns of Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman in 1978, and then to Bridgton to manage that town in 1981.

He also served code enforcement officer in Freeport, town manager of Ashland and worked in the private sector.

Collins said he was assisted in his transition to manager of Phillips by former Town Manager Lynn White.

His starting salary is $39,000, Collins said.

“I’ve met a lot of nice people and looking forward to meeting more,” Collins said.

In his spare time he enjoys snowmobiling and fishing among other activities, and is an avid New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan.