John Jenkins looks out over Lewiston and Auburn where he has been the mayor of both cities. His tenure as mayor of Auburn is about to end.

AUBURN — John Jenkins won’t say no.

When asked whether he’s considering a run for governor now that his term as Auburn’s mayor is done, he turns his pants pocket inside-out to show that it’s empty.

“That takes money,” he said. “That takes an organization; and I don’t have either one.”

But he doesn’t say no.

A lack of money and organization didn’t hurt him two years ago when he was returned to the mayor’s office by write-in votes. It hadn’t happened in a Maine city before.

“People asked me then how much I’d spent on signs,” Jenkins said. “I didn’t spend anything. I didn’t put up any signs. I didn’t campaign.” 

He will have some time on his hands — politically, at least — after Monday when he ends his second term as Auburn mayor. (Jenkins served as mayor of Lewiston in the 1990s.)

He’s been approached, he said. He’s been at speaking engagements around the state — in Houlton, Augusta, Portland — and had people ask him outright if he’ll run for governor.

“I guess it would be something I’d have to give a lot of thought to, and I haven’t done that yet,” he said

After all, he said, the title isn’t important. Whether he’s mayor of Auburn, mayor of Lewiston or a state senator, the job itself is what matters.

“I’d do it whether I have the title or not,” he said. “It’s the work; that’s what drives me.”

There has been a lot of work and many titles in Jenkins’ past: mayor of Lewiston, state senator, martial arts champion and motivational speaker. Privately, he’s sold real estate and processed mortgage loans and has just received his sales license for property and casualty insurance.

He decided in 2006 he would do the public job again, this time in Auburn. A recent property tax revaluation had caused a civic implosion, with hundreds attending council meetings to call for lower tax bills.

“I went to one of those meetings, just as a spectator, and a man recognized me,” Jenkins said. “He came up and shook my hand and just asked if there was anything I could do.”

It was a short term. Voters had just approved a new charter that moved elections to odd-numbered years to match Lewiston’s election schedule. Council terms beginning in 2006 were kept to a single year, and Jenkins thought that would be just enough time.

“There had been a total breakdown of communication,” Jenkins said. “The councilors didn’t talk to the staff and neither talked to the citizens. That’s what we set out to fix.”

Councilors and city staff began a series of ward meetings, taking councilors and staff to neighborhoods to find out what was on the residents’ minds. City staff created a notebook of questions from those meetings for residents to peruse, complete with answers from city staff, updates and any solutions offered.

It worked, Jenkins said. The first few meetings were heavily attended, with residents demanding lower taxes, repairs to their roads and sidewalks and the return of spring cleanup collections.

But fewer attended the later meetings.

“We’d listened, and that’s what they wanted,” Jenkins said.

He and the City Council also worked to create a number of city programs, aimed at helping people heat their homes and keep an eye on their neighbors. They managed to rein in the city’s budget, posting small reductions in property tax collections.

The cachet of the title gave him opportunities outside council chambers, too. It’s given him the chance to teach tai chi classes in Festival Plaza and some self-defense skills to Maine soldiers. He’s also worked with Worcester Wreaths, a Harrington-based wreath-maker, as it donates Maine-made wreaths to U.S. military cemeteries around the world, beginning with Arlington National Cemetery.

Jenkins will host a ceremony tonight, Sunday evening, at Edward Little High School for the wreath-makers as they begin their convoy to Arlington.

He recommends a recipe for his successors at Auburn Hall: keep your eyes open, be kind to each other and be creative.

“Government today tends to be needs-based,” he said. “We wait for the next problem to pop up, then we deal with that. But I think we ought to be proactive. If we look at our assets and what we can do now, that might end up being exactly what we need to deal with that next problem. It could be right there, at our fingertips.”

He also urges the new city councilors to listen to each other.

“We want leaders to be passionate and pushing their ideas, but we want them to listen, too,” he said. “I’ll argue with the best of them, but when I finally understand, when I get that ‘aha!’ moment, I say so.”

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John Jenkins is leaving his post as Auburn mayor.

Head and shoulders photo of John Jenkins