RUMFORD – Steve Eldridge wants to build on Rumford’s service center role by bringing more jobs and services to the town. And he wants to use every tool available for economic development.
Eldridge, 51, a Gorham native who grew up in southern Maine and Connecticut, started his work as town manager about three weeks ago. So far, he has met representatives from many economically oriented organizations and surrounding towns.
“I was hired to make Rumford an active partner with all the local communities in the region and western Maine. I’ll use every tool to help the town and the area grow,” he said.
These include the River Valley Growth Council, Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, and any other nonprofit group that could benefit the area.
Eldridge comes to Rumford from Greene, where he served as town manager for four years. While there, he helped create a more active economic partnership with nearby Lewiston/Auburn through grant-writing projects, he said. Before Greene, he served as town manager of Etna, a small eastern Maine town, for two years.
Going into public administration happened by chance.
When he returned to Maine in the late 1980s and moved to Monmouth, he became involved with local government through membership in the recreation and budget committees and by being a selectman. He decided he wanted to get a degree in public administration instead of business.
“Public administration just caught me. It’s very project-oriented and you get to work with people and have an impact and make things happen,” he said.
Eldridge hopes to attract accounting, legal and medical offices to the town, along with other small businesses, by encouraging entrepreneurs and working with area groups. He would like to see more leisure-time businesses, such as restaurants, take advantage of the river and mountains.
And he sees the beauty in the downtown architecture and the people of the area, along with the growing arts community.
“The architecture is just fabulous. And the people are so warm and welcoming. People who moved away are very fond of this region and people come back home,” he said.
Having the most up-to-date technology is important, he believes, starting at the municipal level. Along with long-term plans to renovate the interior of the Municipal Building to its original appearance, and bringing the historic auditorium up to building code so it may be used more frequently, he is also in the midst of having installed a new, more advanced computer system and hopes to update the phone system as well.
“We need to have plans for when businesses show interest,” he said.
He plans to meet with the town managers of the neighboring towns of Mexico and Dixfield this week to learn how the three can work together.
“It’s going to be fun,” he said of his tasks before him. “There are so many neat things we can do.”
He graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University, and received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Maine.
When he’s not planning for the town, Eldridge reads history books, particularly those about the American Revolution. He also backpacks, skis, fly fishes and bicycles.
He and his wife, Ellen, an occupational therapist, have a daughter in college and a son in high school.
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