LEWISTON – City Administrator Jim Bennett will serve as one of the top officials for a national professional and educational organization dedicated to municipal government.

Bennett was elected as one of three Northeast vice presidents to the International City/County Management Association’s national board. He represents 10 states, in addition to the District of Columbia: Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

He’ll serve a three-year term on the board, beginning in September.

Maine’s voice

“It’s been a long time since someone from Maine has been able to serve on that board,” Bennett said. Brunswick Town Manager Don Gerrish was the most recent Maine representative to the board, in 1992.

“The Northeast area is so big and serves so many states, that each state has someone at some point,” Bennett said. “But you only get a chance to try every three years.”

The association provides technical and management assistance, training, and information resources to its members and local governments.

“The whole city manager form of government is based on trying to bring professional management to municipal decision making,” Bennett said.

The association boasts nearly 9,000 members in thousands of communities, from small towns with populations of a few hundred to metropolitan areas serving several million.

In a written statement, Mayor Larry Gilbert said Bennett’s appointment was fitting given his hard work locally.

“Clearly, his abilities and integrity were equally evident to ICMA,” Gilbert said. “He is an effective leader who consistently looks for ways to improve our community and to assist residents whenever possible.”

Council President Tom Peters echoed Gilbert’s sentiments.

“He will be a great asset to ICMA as he is to our All-American City of Lewiston,” Peters said, in the same statement.

Bennett has been involved in local government in Maine since 1982 when he served as a selectman in Lisbon. He worked as a local government manager in Dixfield, New Gloucester, Old Orchard Beach and Westbrook before coming to Lewiston in 2002.

He’s been a member of the association since 1986 and earned credentials with the group in 2006.

He chairs the 2008 ICMA Conference Planning Committee and received a 2006 ICMA Program Excellence Award for Strategic Leadership and Governance.