LEWISTON — Ever since she was a youngster, Joanne Potvin has followed the Boy Scout motto.
Be prepared.
“Little did I know that what I did at 9 years old as a Girl Scout would lead to a 46-year career in emergency management where we always have to be prepared,” Potvin said.
In the face of natural disasters, Potvin has always been prepared. Whether it was the Flood of 1987, the Ice Storm of 1998, the Blizzards of 2003 and 2015 — when 27 inches of snow blanketed the area both times — or numerous lesser events over the past 46 years, Potvin has helped guide the county’s municipalities back from the brink each time.
After a 46-year career with the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency — the last 15 as its director — Potvin retired this past week.
“She has made great contributions to the county,” Larry Post, the Androscoggin County administrator, said. “You can’t even begin to count the positive things she has done for the Emergency Management Agency throughout the county, not only at the county level but the town level.”
She has helped the agency evolve from its fallout-shelter days before the end of the Cold War to its ever-changing mission of preparing for potential acts of terrorism since 9/11.
“After the Cold War we sort of curtailed the use of fallout shelters,” Potvin said. “Anti-terrorism planning is now part of our all-hazards planning just like it is for hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and major storms.”
Potvin began her EMA career as a volunteer in 1973. After working for a year under a law-enforcement grant in 1974, Potvin was added to the county payroll in January 1975.
When she first started , the EMA office was in the basement of the Androscoggin County building where the civil defense and public safety offices were located. She described the offices as “dark and dingy.”
After the new Auburn Central Fire Station was built, the agency moved into its emergency operations center in 1975. Eventually outgrowing the space, the agency moved to the basement of the Lewiston Fire Department in June 1995, where its four-person staff operates today.
“In Auburn, we didn’t have our own water supply, our own power supply,” Potvin said. “Over here (in Lewiston), we have our own underground water supply. We have underground fuel. So we’re very self-sufficient.”
During the Flood of 1987, with its staff of three, the agency opened emergency operations centers in Lewiston and Auburn. Staff worked around the clock for seven consecutive days hosting emergency operation centers in the Twin Cities.
Floodwaters rose to within a couple of inches of Longley Bridge and covered the rocks next to the trestle, Potvin said. More than 4 feet of water covered the streets near the river.
Potvin kept detailed records of where the floodwaters were at specific levels above flood stage. Those data have proven invaluable.
“We had no prior history of where we would find flooding when water reached a certain level,” Potvin said. “We now know what facilities are going to flood. We know when to order an evacuation, and we know where we’re going to house them in shelters.”
During the ice storm, Potvin spent 14 consecutive days, her feet never leaving the floor the first week as she helped direct recovery efforts — answering phones, organizing shelters and sending resources where they were needed.
Emergency management continues to evolve, Potvin said. Preparing for a crisis can include everything from organizing shelters and supplies, anti-terrorism training and hazard-mitigation planning.
“We have an animal response team,” Potvin said. “After Hurricane Katrina, federal law changed so when we open a people shelter, we now have to open an animal shelter.”
Potvin even assists communities with homeland-security grants.
Probably no department head was more prepared during budget season than Potvin. County commissioners and the Budget Committee rarely cut her budget.
“They have always supported the Emergency Management Agency,” Potvin said. “We’ve been very fortunate. They see the value of what we do for the citizens of Androscoggin County.”
“I kiddingly say she probably counts her paper clips when she does her budget,” Post said. “She certainly had her act together.”
“I always dreaded going behind her because she was so perfect,” Register of Deeds Tina Chouinard said.
Preparations for her retirement include recently purchasing the book, “Places to Visit in Maine” to help guide Potvin on her travels throughout Maine, something she couldn’t do for the past 46 years.
“I’m sad to go, but I’m looking forward to new adventures in my life,” she said.
Joanne Potvin, director of the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency in Lewiston, has retired after 46 years with the agency. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)
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