Surprise! Wiscasset’s Simmons wins leadership award among Maine town, city, county management peers
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 12:45pm
Simmons speaks after winning the award. Courtesy of Aaron Chrostowsky
From left, Wiscasset EMS Director Erin Bean, Town Manager Dennis Simmons with his MTCMA Leadership Award, and Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine. Courtesy of Aaron Chrostowsky
Courtesy of Aaron Chrostowsky
Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons on Wednesday, Aug. 14 won Maine Town, City & County Management Association (MTCMA)’s Leadership Award. In a surprise that town officials worked for weeks to keep from Simmons after Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky got word July 31 of the win, Simmons received the honor at MTCMA’s annual luncheon at Sunday River.
In a text reply to questions hours after the win followed by conference seminars, Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper, “I am humbled by this award. But, really it belongs to everyone who works so hard for the town. Having great staff makes my job much easier.”
Chrostowsky said, by design, the Wiscasset contingent was to arrive at the conference separately from Simmons and not show their faces in the luncheon until the award was about to be announced.
Simmons said, “I did not know until about five minutes beforehand, when I ran into (Wiscasset Municipal Airport Manager) Rick Tetrev in the bathroom. I was like, ‘What are you doing here’ and he says, ‘I don’t know’ (busted).
“It was wonderful so many people made the long trip. We have a great team,” Simmons added.
Reached by phone later, Tetrev laughed as he explained he did not have a chance to escape Simmons’ line of sight. Both were rounding a corner at the same time. And then “I don’t know” was the only thing the former Naval commander could think to say when Simmons asked what he was doing there.
Tetrev and others interviewed said they were thrilled Simmons won the honor. Said Tetrev, “He’s just a hardworking man, and he’s so dedicated to the town and what he does.” Simmons knew little about an airport when he started as town manager but was not too proud to ask questions; and a lot has been accomplished in Simmons’ time here, Tetrev continued. “He doesn’t leave a stone unturned.”
Among other Wiscasset attendees to see Simmons get the award, Selectman Pamela Dunning said in an email response: “I was very excited and happy to see Dennis win this award. Dennis works very hard for the town and its people. He puts in extra time, goes the extra mile and searches all resources to make sure that the town gets the best that he can manage. Dennis and his staff work well together and maintain the town in a way that makes us proud of him.”
Wiscasset Emergency Medical Services Director Erin Bean said Simmons has been a friend and colleague 14 years, including when they both worked for Northeast Mobile Health Services and, at another point, Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service. She was at Sunday River for Simmons’ award and told Wiscasset Newspaper in a phone interview later, Simmons is not someone who likes attention, but he deserves it.
“The town really has a good person, he’s really trying hard to make things happen. A super special person,” Bean said.
Chrostowsky’s nomination letter said Simmons is a thinker who “doesn’t settle for the status quo” and has shown exceptional leadership – including in the town’s tax fight with Maine Yankee. The company successfully defended Wiscasset’s challenge to an exemption Maine Department of Environmental Protection awarded in connection with Maine Yankee’s nuclear waste storage; then Simmons, and a lobbyist Simmons got selectmen’s OK to hire, successfully urged legislators to pass a bill disqualifying nuclear waste facilities from being considered air pollution control.
“(Simmons’) remarkable plan and hard work paid off,” the letter quotes Selectman Terry Heller. With the bill’s passage and Gov. Janet Mills’ signing, “Dennis brought home a huge win that saved the town from a $1.9 million hit in tax revenue,” Heller said in her letter, one of several officials’ letters accompanying Chrostowsky’s.
Chrostowsky’s nomination letter notes the Midcoast-raised Simmons has over his career been a paramedic, sheriff’s deputy, Maine State Prison guard, and worked in the wholesale fishing industry; while he was Wiscasset’s Emergency Medical Services director, he earned a master’s degree in public administration; Simmons has been town manager since 2020 and still helps ambulance crews when they need it.
The letter describes Wiscasset as a “difficult” town to manage, with a working waterfront, several full-time departments and three labor unions; its infrastructure and services, many dating to the Maine Yankee and Mason Station power plant years, are “both a blessing and a burden,” it states. The letter cites Simmons’ perseverance on financial and environmental fronts for the sewer plant, including getting grants. It quotes the treatment plant’s superintendent, Robert Lalli, as saying Simmons “has turned the tide” for the department.
As part of the nomination, Chrostowsky also submitted Lalli’s and Heller’s letters and ones from Tetrev, Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine, Bean, Selectman William “Bill” Maloney, Wiscasset Creative Alliance President Allisa Eason and lifelong Wiscasset resident Sheila Sawyer, treasurer of Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce. Sawyer said Simmons is largely responsible for the “good results” on the Maine Yankee tax matter, and has aligned great staff and leadership, with everyone together “bringing the town back to life and moving it forward.”
Maloney’s statement calls Simmons, by far, Wiscasset’s best town manager in a long time, “constantly at work looking for ways to help the town,” including with the effort on the Maine Yankee taxes, and to broaden the tax base as the town “desperately” needs.
Eason, too, praised Simmons on Maine Yankee. And she said he is a vital part of the community and always supportive of the Alliance’s work. Bean said Simmons’ efforts with equipment and other issues have kept EMS running. Hesseltine said Simmons shows his trust in department heads, encourages innovation and has “cultivated a culture of excellence where creativity and efficiency thrive.”
Tetrev said it is “amazing” this is Simmons’ first town manager job. He cited Simmons’ “tireless” efforts to boost the airport’s income, including with the 20-acre, Cenergy solar project.
The nearest town to have a manager win MTCMA’s Leadership Award is Boothbay. James Chauosis won it in 2013, according to MTCMA’s website.
A nomination form at MTCMA.org states the leadership award is for an administrator who has been key to “a particularly bold and innovative project or for solving an unusually difficult problem.” Besides the Maine Yankee tax matter, Chrostowsky’s letter cited Simmons’ involvement in a burrito-like berm to protect the sewer plant against floodwaters, and his perseverance on the largely grant-funded Old Ferry Road culvert replacement project.
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