Tag: maine small towns

Small Town Living In Maine

Small town living in Maine.

Living In Small Time Maine. Volunteering Is Big. Crime, Traffic Is Not.

The attraction of Maine small town living is stronger than ever. The longing for space, a sense of connection and being needed is part of it.

The joy of volunteering and helping others is a way of life in Maine small town living too.

Volunteering is a way of life in small town living in Maine.

All ages involved from youngsters helping little ones. Older active seniors training those middle age workers. The volunteers of all ages are the community fuel. Baking for fund raisers, coaching a youth sports team, working on a community event you’ve been a part of for years.

Small town living in Maine is not boring, never dull because you are invested.

The feeling of being needed and relying on the talents and consideration of others is security, contentment. You can feel you make a difference in small town living in Maine.

You are needed.

Folks count and rely on each other for the greater good of the area.

In small Maine town, you can make a difference.

Serving on local community boards and shaping policy. Combining personal talents and collectively guiding the community is its own personal reward. If you don’t do it, who will?

Each season living in a small Maine town there is plenty to work on that improves the quality of life.

Floats to decorate and put in parades, practicing for an upcoming community band concert, playing a role in a community play.

Small Town Community Plays In Maine. One More Way To Volunteer.

The folks who choose to live in a small Maine town step up and contribute their time, money and ambition.

Not once in awhile but all the time due to deep pride for their community’s small town living in Maine lifestyle way of life.

Volunteering at the local Salvation Army thrift store, ringing kettle bells, distributing local food to families who need it most.

Maine, Vacationland Means Lots More To Do For Fun And Recreation. Small Towns Are Friendlier. Volunteering To Help Out Happens In Local Small Towns.

That’s part of living in a small Maine town. Our local Rotary club sponsors a literacy volunteer program.

Taking turns, the club members visit local Maine area elementary schools to share the joy of reading. To cause a spark to get new readers in the habit of reaching for a book.

Who says young children today don’t have the attention span to read a book? Literacy volunteers give away so so many books through the year.

Our local small town library in Maine has a summer reading program.

And a children’s section of the library to foster reading for its many lifelong benefits. Christmas stories around the holidays are part of the library festivities. When someone dies, money is channeled to the library to purchase books in memory of that individual. The sticker label in front of what is bought helps you get a sense of what this person loved and enjoyed.

Local businesses contribute funds to put on free weekend movies too.

For families to enjoy a free Christmas theme movie. For kids to munch on popcorn and watch the flick on the silver screen while Mom and Dad can Christmas shop locally in privacy.

Businesses Donating To Local Maine Small Town Movie Theatres To Create Free Holiday Matinees.

Small town living in Maine.

You have a deeper awareness of more than the open space, the clean air, fresh water and wildlife. Exploring the recreational trails and being close to nature is what Maine is all about but who needs help. Those in your small Maine town that are struggling with an illness, loss of a family member or spouse. That’s where folks get together to make sure the person or family suffering is getting the help and support they deserve.

Maine Is Outdoors, Nature. Small Town Living In Maine Is 4 Seasons Outdoor Recreation.

I think you have greater obligations choosing to live in a small Maine town. There is a sense of duty and like I said before in this Maine blog post. Volunteering is a way of life. As you step up, as those around you pitch in, everyone looks for ways to help. You feel the personal responsibility to make a difference if you are able.

Asking if you can give a neighbor a ride to medical treatments down country.

Or to feed their cat, keep the driveway cleared or the grass mowed. While another neighbor offers to shoulder some other burden chore to free up a community member.

Lots more local communication happens in small Maine town living.

Try to pop into the hardware store, dash into the local Walmart or a grocery store for what should be a quick easy task. Chances are, you will bump into lots of people you know and the next things that happens is a conversation. Often about something only those living in the small Maine town would care about or know the individual or event being discussed.

The upcoming big high school sports game, the local weather. How’s your garden growing or your recovery from surgery going? Knowing the names of all your kids and asking about where they are? How everyone is doing keeps the small local town population current in their local community conversations.

Where is there a job for kids to make some spending money? All kinds of those opportunities in small Maine towns.

Money From Working For Area Farmers. Picking Potatoes In Maine. How To Make Your Own Money, Not Spend Mom And Dad’s Important Skill.

Front porches in Maine small towns get used for local new updates.

Folks out for a walk stop by and chat. Same thing happens in small Maine down towns. On sidewalks, or rolling down the vehicle window to talk about small Maine town events and the people living in it. It’s not nosy (usually) and it’s caring and sharing for the most part.

Getting Fresh Air, Spending The Day Outdoors In Maine. Kids Do That.

Living in a small Maine town means more covered dishes and public suppers.

Less trendy chic dining at a slew of local eateries. You need a bigger population to support the greater choice of places to pay to dine. But the local eateries we do have in small Maine towns are well supported and you know or perhaps are even related to the folks you see eating or that put on the apron to work there.

Public Suppers At The Local Farmers Museum. Volunteer To Work Them, To Dine There To Raise Money.

I think there is a greater appreciation for the small things living day to day in a small Maine town. Because you are more involved, there is more sweat, love and tears poured into the local community.

Each of us knows the quality of life living in a small Maine town depends on the individuals.

Home grown not store bought. That describes living in a small Maine town. Fueled on volunteers stepping up and pitching in to create the sense of community.

Window Shopping, Tooling Around A Small Maine Town At Night. Mom & Pop Operations, Not So Many Franchise Set Ups.

Living in a small Maine town means Saturday you help gather folks to get behind a bottle drive.

Or a spring clean up or attending an important meeting. Working or attending on a snowmobile or fish and game breakfast, a farmer’s museum fall harvest supper. Buying a magazine subscription from a youngster who knocks on your door from down the street.

Fitting in when from away in a small Maine town.

If you had problems where you live out of state now fitting in, often the reasons you left follow you to a small Maine town.

The Small Town Maine Local Events. Like Dance Recitals. Everyone Goes. Or Is Working It Behind The Scenes.

Small Maine towns are protective and highly invested in their communities.

Make an effort to get involved and with a positive helpful attitude, you can blend in wherever you live right? That’s pretty universal and along the lines of if you want friends, be one.

If you are highly critical, pretty much self centered and like to whine or dominate a conversation where everything has to be done your way or it’s hit the highway.

Well, there may be a real estate for sale sign planted shortly after your initial move to small town Maine. If you think folks were not friendly, you have to make an effort to get involved. Pace yourself because there are so many avenues of service to consider.

Small Maine Towns, Food Vendors Working Community Events. MMmmmm Good.

Many people start small.

Investing in a simple vacation property to try out small town Maine on a part time basis to see how they like it, how the simpler lifestyle fits for maybe longer periods.

Expectations, what caused your desire to move to Maine and leaving where you used to live before?

Maybe you were raised in a small Maine town but left for college or job advancement and poof. Next thing you know, four or five decades whirl by before the return to your small Maine town roots.

Tap Your Toe, Sing Along. Music Made Locally And Live Is Huge In Maine Small Town Communities.

The older we get the more change is resisted and maybe the small Maine town experience is not going to be exactly as you remembered it years before you left.

Interstates and Internet have impacted small town life in Maine in good and not so healthy ways.

In life, there is a constant stream of trade offs and where you would enjoy living most is a highly personal decision that only you can make.

Attending Local Sporting Events, Alumni Games Are Popular. For Fans Of All Ages.

So what to plan for as you bite the bullet and make the leap into living in a small Maine town?

If you used to let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages looking for a long tall list of contractors. Well, welcome to small town Maine where anyone good is busy and worth the wait. All about timing. You need to be the first guy or gal out of the gate in the spring for home building.

Keep Your Eye On The Black Circle. Dangling It Skating Down A Maine Ice Arena Contest.

Or hit it right just before winter getting the groundwork down to construction a house that is weather tight from the elements. And you slowly finish it off as local tradesmen become available. Not into the slow cooked, think it out, easy does it approach to building or house repairs? What the delay causes is folks to develop and sharpen their own skill set.

Tired of waiting? Let’s attend another session of YouTube University to DIY as much as we can ourselves.

If you are used to hiring everything done and highly skilled in one discipline and pretty much helpless in all the rest, it may be like the old TV slow “Green Acres”.

Traveling Instate Maine To Enjoy Mini Vacations. Easy When You Already Live In State Maine.

Heart ache and frustration and longing for where you used to live that offered different taken for granted luxuries.

In Maine, independence to control your destiny and not be so tied to others to help and serve.

It is a strong deep running trait of folks in small town rural Maine. Used for more than survival but for the joy in making more of your own decisions. That’s satisfying and custom made to what you want your life to look like and not so helpless just bumping along seemingly out of control.

Out For A Walk, Gradual Climb Up A Waiting Maine Ski Area.

Lack of traffic because you live in a small town in Maine with only one or two traffic lights.

Because that’s all you need to direct the flow of traffic that is slower moving and more considerate.

Lower cost of everything because money is tighter and not spent so freely in small Maine town circles. That’s part of what you get in the Cracker Jack box of living in a small Maine town. Let’s face it, the way of life in small town versus large city is very different. It depends on where you are in your life cycle of what works best and weighing the pros and cons.

Gathering, Squeezing Local Apples To Make All Nature Cider. Do That For Fun Where You Live Now?

Community owned and not privatized for profit.

Where I live in Maine, you see a lot more of that. Our local electric utility is a co-op and not for profit. If the local electron power juice provider makes money, there is a utility price reduction. Less exploitation and more for the greater good.

Small Town Living In Maine, What’s Like? Home Made, Local Talent, Volunteers Pitching In.

Maine Is Farms, Lots Of Land, Less Population, More Wildlife.

Money is not the end all but managing it is in living in a small Maine town.

Jobs in small towns in Maine can be less varied but the need to make lots of money from a highly specialize vocation is not so important. Housing prices, no cost for parking, less concern about personal safety, low crime all have their own reward in small town living in Maine. Barters, no money exchanged is huge. Some folks are hard to pay back too and very generous. Which is contagious.

Telecommute to work remotely online from Maine to anywhere.

My small Maine town has it’s own broadband Internet provider too. Wired wall to wall and beyond with speed of thought connectivity is a beautiful thing. High speed Internet connects rural Maine to the rest of the blue and green revolving marble quite nicely.

Mt K, Maine’s Highest Peak! Fun To Climb, Memorable Climbs Up And Down Growing Up In Small Maine Towns.

The audience does not know I am blogging this early morning post from a wireless laptop pausing to peer out over the misty, magical Maine lake today.

Unless I tell them. Or show them to let the cat out of the bag.

Peaceful, Quiet, Magical Mist Enjoying Fresh Coffee Early Morning On A Maine Lake. Priceless.

The move to small town living in Maine often is due to where is the best place to raise a family. We don’t worry about the white van sliding open the big side door and snacking our kids in the 4th lowest crime state in the nation.

Walk to school, ride your bike to the movies, library or little league practice.

Would your kids be able to have that kind of independence? Get that kind of exercise outside the house and off the eerie blue glowing screen living in a big city setting?

Crisp Clean Air, Pond Hockey Or Cross Country Skiing, Snow Shoes Strapped On For Exercise. Small Town Maine Populations Don’t Hibernate.

Healthier, not just your kids but everyone gets out to enjoy the four seasons of living in a small town in Maine.

Instead of climbing on the commuter train and all the time stuck in traffic to get to any destination, walk. When your small town home location is a block from the corner store or a place to eat a meal, hoof it.

Your backyard in a small town in Maine lifestyle is not a few feet with a tall fence to define it.

There is no need for a fence. You are not in a 300 lot subdivision with snarky HOA bylaws living in a small town in Maine.

Small Town Living In Maine. Means Trail Rides With Your Family And Friends.

Most of the neighbors you can’t see spaced well down the country road live in homes not weighed down with a mortgage. Their cars and pickups, SUVS have many miles on them but are owned outright.

Spending money with impulse control is taught early on with kids earning their green bills wearing the dead Presidents.

Money not doled, handed out like candy by parents to meet their kid’s every needs.

Voting in a small Maine town is taken seriously. Being in line to cast your ballot and knowing by name the folks in front and behind you. To be in a large polling place and not know a soul living in a large urban area would not be the same experience.

Artistry Thanks To Mother Nature. What You See On A Walk In Maine.

In a small town in Maine there is pride and also concern on problems we need to tackle together.

There is not a feeling of hopelessness or of what good would only one person be in the outcome. No matter how small the group, band together and make the situation better than it was in whatever way you can.

You don’t just blend in with the landscape or step back to avoid responsibility in small Maine town living. Not everyone gets along peachy keen all the time and like families, there are squabbles and division. But there is a shared love of the small town way of life in Maine communities.

Spring Means High Fast Water, Canoe Races.

The parents in small town living in Maine don’t fear their kids.

There is mutual respect mixed with love going both ways in the family connection. It is true the village really collectively raises the child in a small Maine town. Small towns in Maine are really like one large family.

The stigma of living in a small town anywhere comes from feeling trapped.

FOMO, fear of missing out. Or due to early on being told by family and teachers that you have to leave after high school. See what’s out there, travel, relocate for perspective. But never let anyone make you feel somehow you are local townie loser for choosing to put your heart and soul into living in a small town in Maine.

Small towns are walkable and safe.

Maine Looks Different Captured From The Air, Using Real Estate Drones.

People wave, smile, stop in traffic to let you cross streets in small Maine towns.

Holding doors open, striking up a conversation. Friendly happens in small town Maine town living. Less fears, more comfortable and no one ignores others. Social happens in small Maine towns. Lower population means closer to all the special places folks flock to Maine to tap into on vacation.

No crowds at a lake boat launch or need to reach for your wallet.

Parking in a small Maine downtown is free and plentiful.

Everyone Outdoors Meeting, Greeting, Attending Local Small Maine Town Events. Click For Farmer’s Market Video.

Restaurants, stores are mom and pop unique not always franchise branded in small Maine town.

The economics of small Maine towns are not rich and flashy. More simple down to Earth practical. Using common sense for survival and Maine humor applied in large doses. Locals are fierce about supporting their friends and neighbor’s business establishments. Every dollar spent locally turns over six to seven times.

Trading with each other in a small Maine town feels good inside.

Like being current on property taxes, casting a local ballot, supporting the many fund raisers around you. There is a shift in more and more working remotely and an exodus from expensive, impersonal city living underway.

Walks, Talks, Everyone Brings A Covered Dish To Enjoy After The Outdoor Exercise. That’s Small Town Living In Maine.

Have you thought of where to move and Maine comes up in conversations or in the thought process?

Glad to share what we know as a life long native of small town Maine! Here to help answer questions about what small town living in Maine is like as a local insider.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

November 9, 2022
Maine Small Towns Are Really Just Big Families

Maine small towns are really just big families.

You know the feeling when you crowd into a large, noisy expensive restaurant. Now, compare that experience with what happens when just a few people dine around you. The mom and pop owners go out of their way with home cooked food and personal service.

Maine Small Towns, More Like One Big Family Then Just A Community.

Their Maine small town establishment with the owner in the store is not a franchise outlet like all the rest across the land.

No no, one of a kind and personal, intimate, connected, genuine. No cheesy smiles or poor attempts to act like they were born to serve you. Plus you don’t have to sell a duplicate organ to pay the tab. You don’t just darken the eateries door when it’s your wedding anniversary or birthday celebration. You also leave full and content. Not thinking of hitting a drive through restaurant on the way home. Or peering into the refrigerator to track down a snack. Because your stomach feels short changed from tiny portions and high prices that made your skip considering anything from the dine out dessert menu.

Sharing The Bounty And Feeling Grateful For Where You Live In Maine.

The Maine small town business owner lives where you do and knows your struggles.

Shares the same goals for their small well knit Maine community. The circles we travel in small Maine towns are smaller and bumping into each other happens a lot. During the week you and the owners who put in long hours for lower pay are ready to serve. Their reward is the appreciation they feel by your continued patronage. The time and money they put into outside the business that benefits the entire community. In all the local productions of any type, it takes the village to pull them off. You don’t pay to just attend an event. Usually you have a hand working behind the scenes at whatever is going on in your Maine small town.

Small Maine Town Productions, Everyone Pitches In With Talent To Stretch The Budget.

Maine small towns, where everything done is not paid for with green currency.

Often you don’t know who dropped off the extra garden vegetables. Or the hot out of the oven fruit pie that someone knows just happens to be your favorite flavor. The local Amish settlement in Smyrna Maine makes Thursday “Community Day’. Each week, you leave your farmstead and band together at someone else’s spread. To get their barn raised, the leaking house roof shingled, their crop harvested, whatever is needed. You return the favor the next Thursday when someone else in the community gets a visit where many hands make light work.

“Rotary Auction, What Item You Looking At, To Bid On Tonight?”

When you live in a Maine small town, everyone bands together.

Sure, something that happens years ago might have ruffle your feathers. But the eye is on the bigger prize of what happens when we all work together. Because it won’t get done unless everyone steps up to do their part. The big thing is all of us are works in progress. No one is perfect and we all have flaws and lifelong struggles that shape and define us. Attack the problem, the need and not the person is discussed around the family dinner table at meal time.

Your Local Small Towns People, Family And Friends In The Local 4th Of July Celebration Parades.

In Maine small towns you really get to know the community members working on area projects of all kinds.

Everyone invests time, money, creative energy because of their fierce love of their community. When you hear at the corner convenience store picking up a pizza that one of your community members is in the hospital, what to do to show you care and to help out today. That’s what gets kicked into action as if a community air raid siren sounds and you kick into gear. Your neighbor down the road plows out the in need’s winter driveway and shovels the walk way and steps without being asked.

Barns In Maine, Some Store Bought From Sears And Roebuck. Others Hand Hewn Post And Beam Created On Site. With Help From Your Neighbors To Put Them Up And Keep Them Sturdy.

Others join in to share the same task to give you a break after a few days when a long illness or recovery is underway.

Everyone is busy but not too busy to extend a hand and show they care. Chances are they know the feeling of the ground swell of generosity personally or witnessed it extended to a family member or neighbor. All the small rural Maine community members think hard about what’s needed to create the slack for your small town member who is struggling. A benefit supper is organized to raise much needed funds.

Covered dishes are delivered like clockwork to free up the meal time planning. Because calls to doctors, setting up appointments and working the logistics of how to get the kids to school while away all needs to be coordinated. You don’t feel alone and everyone is needed in a Maine small town. We all treasure the natural beauty and unspoiled land and water in this place called Maine.

Preserving History, Protecting Maine Small Town Country Living Makes The Local Connection Strong.

The Maine small town community member probably is related to you somehow.

None of us wants to be a burden on others or put them out or ask for help. But when you and your family are on the receiving end of the much needed aid, you never forget the feeling that my Maine small town cares about me So step up and do your part for others when it is your turn to do a good deed or two. Less people makes the connection stronger in under populated Maine. You and others in the small Maine community attended most of the same weddings, funerals, graduation, church services or community events in some capacity. You vote together at the rec center, cheer for the same home team up in the bleachers.

The Watson Settlement Covered Bridge Spans The Meduxnekeag River In Littleton Maine

A church member or neighbor brings you breakfast and a sympathetic ear while you convalescence from surgery or to heal from a loss.

Three community members had a hand in creating a lap robe quilt so you won’t be chilly until you gain the strength to get up and move around like your old self. Someone from the local fish and game or snowmobile club stops in to see if you need anything or helps bank your house or to finish cutting, splitting, getting your winter wood in to the shed or basement. They quickly swing in and mow your lawn, pick up a prescription or deliver the local newspaper, a quart of milk and whatever you ran out of today.

The target of the attention squirms from the hubbub fuss. Feels there must be someone else more deserving and is just not used to being a recipient of the communal help when they need it most.

But stay tuned. They will be up and at ’em before you know it. Back on the chain gang to assist others which is the comfort of having a chance for pay back. Turn, turn, turn, it all comes around full circle.

Eating Outdoors, Not Jammed Between Four Walls Inside. Maine Is Outdoor Dining, Exploring, Everything.

You never feel alone in Maine small towns.

Too much to do and for years you have been part of the events that happen in your community. Many tasks handed down from other older family members who can not longer do them. Playing in the community band, helping decorate a float for a 4th of July parade entry. Raising money for project graduation by cash or food item donations of say home made pan of scotcheroo squares or a big pot of baked beans or loaf of just made bread. Everyone has a trademark talent.

Maybe it’s making cribbage boards out of local wood. The donator’s ability to weld and braze a specially designed trailer for say the local soap box derby race. Or to create a routered sign, to get your car running. Maybe talented at sewing a play or dance costume or knitting a pair of wool mittens.

Outdoors, Year Round. That’s Maine Four Seasons Simple Living.

When you see Maine small town members industriously pouring lots of effort into a task, there is no way to stay on the sidelines.

Pitching in and volunteering is a big part of the Maine small town experience. Planting and tending a vegetable garden way bigger than you need so you can share Nature’s bounty. Delivering extra eggs from hens to those who need them most. It is a take what you need and pass on the rest approach to everyday living in rural Maine. Easy does it. Tread lightly, respect and give what you are entrusted with to the next community or family member in as good or hopefully better condition. Think good thoughts and avoid stinking thinking as my Mom called it that does no good for anyone in a Maine small town living experience.

Living Off The Land, Simple Living In Maine. Our Population Is Low And Scattered. The Community Spirit Tight And Well Connected.

You don’t just live in a Maine small town, you are really a part of the big family of residents who create the community experience.

Everyone likes a helper, when they see you take on a duty that benefits the town without wanting any recognition. Advice for anyone moving to a Maine small town? Pitch in, work hard and help out to share skill set and your special talents. Since COVID gripped the globe, folks in crowded impersonal city population centers intensified the search for their plan “B”. Putting a lot of thought into where would I move and relocate to if the pressure becomes too much. For when quality of life is missed and it’s time for a new address like “up in Maine”.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 12, 2021
If You Were A Town Manager In A Small Maine Town.

Not many of us are Maine town managers.

Yet Maine is blessed with 108 small communities. That have such public servants at the helm. Leading the way. Tending the affairs of what happens out in the open, behind the scenes too day to day. Nightly meetings with selectmen, councilors can go smoothly, be harmonious, productive.

Or go another direction. Tedious, contentious and plain down right ugly. Very counter productive if public opinion goes sour. Because of apathy, disconnect or plain lack of a clear consensus of what everyone’s role is to help the process. That can seem fuzzy, elusive, overwhelming. Change from old ways of doing things mean positive steps with concrete results happen too slow for the populace.
Shiretown Houlton Maine.

Like a sports team with a quality bench but a poor coach or the other way around.

There is a challenge to make it work, all communicate, become educated, to step into the same set of realistic expectations. For the options in the highly important decision making.

With what you have for people skill sets, numbers, talents, positives and the negative realities in the Maine community. The burg, village, community you are blessed to be a part of, involved with as a local taxpayer, parent, and employee or employer. Or a snowbird retired and watching with perspective from other areas that struggled, was victorious with their own set of municipal ups and downs.

When is time for the delicate adjustment and where in town government with who and why?

New chemistry to make the local Maine town government come together is sometimes needed. But focus on the real problems, solutions, not personalities or ancient history, personal agendas wins the day for the greater good for all.

Frustration, folks getting bloodied, silenced, ignored or beat up in the news, over coffee, social media circles often happens with just plain lack of information. Or the wrong set of facts to stay objective. Jumping to conclusions to over simplify more complex issues happens all the time.

A tumble weed of replacement, finger pointing, badgering, who gets the blame rolls, blows up and down Main street. It roams freely when bigger tasks, business decisions need tending. Before someone hollers last guy or gal out of the small Maine town, turn off the lights.

“Next… you’re outta here” hollered too often. As yanked, starting over and delay in the retraining to get up to speed becomes a time and money wasting standard operating ritual. In the revolving door search for the right town manager that can become a vicious cycle. If you don’t recognize what the problems are to match make for the right cowboy or cowgirl for the rodeo to straighten out what’s ailing.

What does the small Maine town need for a leader? Not the right fit means no longevity happens. A lot.

There are other elements that help or hurt the process of town survival beyond the fearless leader, the economic condition strain when financial revenue sharing streams from the state, Uncle Sam get turned off, dry up.

The other local small town realities to meet mandates, keep up and stay legal all create their own natural added weight. No matter who the current slate of leadership is nor how well intentioned all are to hammer out a partnership that tailor fits the unique small Maine town jewel local philosophy.

Discouragement is a snake bite, a venomous curse.

So is the recoil and rattler sound of recalling history with a recalcitrant narrow view. That creates a gravity that can keep a town lamenting past mistakes. Lashing itself like self mutilation with the cat o nines tails. Instead of focusing on what is up ahead for a path to take to have victories. To keep moving, not lose momentum. To zero in on today, not being dragged back into yesterday that is long gone.

Have a funeral and bury those mantras about “they” who are long dead, did the best they could, had success that is stripped away and instead only perceived mistakes are served. Get the spotlight. That led to this fine kettle of fish we find ourselves in are all courtesy of long ago blunders of “they”. Well “they” are dead, buried and should be allowed to rest in peace. I think that works best.

Often the part of the problem is weak leadership or just not unified but strong sub-elements who run their own show under the big top are not questioned.

Undermine to feather their own nest and build walls around an untouchable regime not to be questioned.
Look For The Sunshine. Unplug, Recharge In Maine.
Not always transparent and allowed to operate pretty much freely from public scrutiny because they always have. Their power is shifted with a strong town manager that tactfully aligns his department heads, council or selectmen if he or she realizes a clock is ticking. Results, to keep the RPM’s strong, flywheel turning and the town moving is critical or public opinion wanes quickly. And marching orders can result.

From those power centers who feel threatened combined with a portion of the public not keen, well versed on the vagaries of tifs, bonds, economic development, litigation, mediation, public education, the bid process to keep it local. For good old common sense that can get forgotten when overspending becomes a habit with money that just is not there. The cases of a few want it, push for it. With the galloping gimmees drunken sailor approach to spending replacing the “but do we really need it” in the long run review that is not happening.

What is the expression about the mouth writing checks that the butt can’t cash?

That is not frugal Maine where saving money is an art form. Has to be because less coin to manage makes you have way better impulse control. Get value, wait for it or keep shopping, doing your homework until you can.

The smart negotiating of salaries, embracing automation, getting along with unions, school departments and going easy on town attorney billable hours to avoid lawsuits. Lessons in public relations and not to open your mouth before thinking of the repercussions, the litigation.

Carrying a large roll of duct tape.

What you let loose out in the press, media with your soundbites, quotes. Part of a response for a question gets air, ink that shocks and is taken out of context. The juicy part of an answer kept, the disclaimer shucked. Missing a solid front at the top can keep the special interest groups of a small town operating quite nicely in the confusion too. Just the way they like it in King making, in the hoisting up one to their liking in the foray, perpetuation of petty small town politics.

Making sense of laws passed many miles, counties away on the federal and state level.

In their own county and local community. Raising money from property and sale taxes, service, permit, licensing fees. To administer the paying the bills for everything from public safety to keeping Maine local roads free of snow, potholes.
Fixing, Getting Under The Hood, Under The Engine Of Small Maine Town Economies.

The bridges solid and continuing to span waterways. Educating our youth does not stop. Making the area a safe, family oriented locality.

With a modern infrastructure, health care providers, industry, commercial activity to create a source of income. The pride of an income to know the joy of home ownership.

Planning the future to assure the town remains more than a name on a map. With more than history as it blazes the way, survives, prospers, grows. What makes a small Maine town great?

Why do some Maine towns do a better tinkering, the job of making the most of what they have to work with all the locals on board? Seemingly focused on most of the same goals?

It takes more than a Maine town manager and starting with assessment of what the area strengths are. What’s the focus for the present, that supports the dosey doe onto the long term goals on the list. Clear sound planning for the how to accomplish those goals. And the town manager of Maine out there in the community not hiding in his or her office out of touch. Beating the drum for all he or she is worth beyond the 40 hour a weeks. To make sure it all comes together as the community’s biggest cheerleader, the CEO of a small Maine town.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

April 17, 2014
Buckling Down In Small Maine Towns.

Revenue sharing trickling back to small Maine towns, the faucet quickly turned off.

Tightly Squeezed In, Rode In The Back Of A B-24 Bomber, In The Twin 50 Caliber Tail Gunner Slot.
Shut down. Funds to write grants, compete for becoming scarcer by the day. The incline racketed straight up. An extremely competitive, time consuming process. Shrinking ROI return.

So what do you, the small Maine town do if the future shows to expect more of the same reductions in funding?

Knowing full well that this is not a momentary blip on the radar. But something to get used to more of the same coming down the pike for years to come?

You shrink, you belt tighten, get creative. Today.

Stop the bleeding today. Take those steps. Strong bold ones to make hard decisions. Seeing it will only be a bigger blood bath if put off racketing it back drastically for the small Maine town, the economic region. If you don’t take action early. All along the way. Especially if the small Maine town’s population is dropping numbers too when they do a head count every decade. See the red flags dropped, white ones waving.

Start with small Maine town duplication of layers. Or you could take the tack that let’s raise property taxes to keep the status quo. Jack up user fees, licenses, permits which are already too high. The last thing you should be doing for a healthy environment for the local businesses, individuals you want to have stay around in your small Maine town. For young folks to find their way back after college, the service, stretching their legs out of state.

Keeping things the way they are, always were.

You don’t have to know Latin to sense there is work to do. It’s not status quo. Different tack needed. Plenty of adjustment much like when the captain of the commercial plane comes on the overhead speaker. And says don’t mean to alarm you folks. But there is a mountain range coming up and we are not going to clear it unless the aircraft is lightened up. Suddenly you are not worried about the inflight movie. The peanuts and soft drink. The who’s your ride after touch down where you thought you were landing today.

My Dad was a tail gunner on a B24 Liberator during World War Two with the pilot announcing one run this same head’s up warning.

Shot up pretty royally after a German bomb run. Trying to just limp away from the anti aircraft 88’s pointing, pumping a steady, deadly accurate shrapnel ordinance stream skyward.

The guy upfront wearing the silk scarf, same 15th Army Air Force patch on his leather bomber’s jacket with sheep skin collar trying to make the point quickly. Not candy coat it. Assess the situation, relay to the crew the limited options. As the plane’s alarm bell starts ringing, flashing interior lights pulsate on and off. And altitude is dropping as the rest of the squadron leaves the lone plane behind like it was standing still. As night fall approaches for the ten man crew all by itself still over enemy air space.

The crew to survive, ends up flying with one last engine.

Due to fire, blown out missing sections. Or plain drained, bone dry on critical oil in the other three. Feathered, shut down one by one. As bad moves over, making way for worse. Crippling the tattered winged war bird’s efforts to flap it’s way, to get back to home base in Italy. The crew pitched in, heave ho’ed interior bomb racks, anything with weight knowing their life depended on it. Or parachuting out the bomb bay doors the only other option on the table, being discussed.

The back of the above photo has my Dad’s handwritten inscription. “The smiles are real, after forced landing.” The ecstatic crew kneel, kissed the ground, literally. When touching down at a forward coastal English base airstrip. Picked up three days later to be assigned another bomber with a different half dressed beauty painted upfront on both sides. Sporting an exotic, racy name underneath to continue making the bombing milk runs. Dropped on strategic daylight targets to win the war. And lose half the planes in the process to get back to a stateside peace time way of life.

The overhead of small Maine towns needs more than eagle eye line item study.

There was not the waste to trim from previous year’s scrutiny for cutting around the edges.

The same level of service across the board is not a tab the local property tax payers, small business owners can afford to shoulder. And a five year, longer plan needs to be rack focused quickly to dove tail reductions in over spending, overhead.

With painful but necessary surgery, an all on board direction, concensus. That no one in the room enjoys, wants to take. But to miss that approaching mountain range called over spending money you don’t have if you don’t Jack. Just as serious a situation as the fly boy GI’s found themselves in. Signed on for to win the war. Small Maine towns, what makes one great?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

February 10, 2014
Saving Money Running A Small Maine Town.

The Black And White Realities Of Running A Red, White & Blue Maine Small Town.

Maine has 108 small towns, and the pride in these scattered, spaced communities is fierce.

But as the economic realities hit home and change does not happen to react or respond to them, the community flywheel of industry and commerce slows. Strained because what adjustments could be done are not. And red ink bleeding out, white flags being waved madly are missed. Cues to do this, this and oh yeah that come and go without attention can kill a small Maine town.

In industry around the world, automation is the word for today’s economy. It’s the buzz word. Lean, mean, just in time inventory but still a big selection offered and without slack or business operation waste. How to adapt, to stay in business is the order of the day. What took three men to do not many years ago can be done by one or none with the right machine, software. How we do the business, provide the service evolves too. The taste of the consumer changes.

Fail to adapt and rut rho. One less Maine business happens.

Or sometimes farming out the job, putting it out for bid to the private sector is in town government’s better route to go in a small Maine burg. Unless no bidders. Then that backfires. Like with winter plowing snow contracts. $5000 a mile can be the one and only bidder when the true cost is $3800 to return a tidy profit. Return on time and expenses, the ROI needs constant monitoring in everything you and I do. Whether in the business of small Maine towns or out in the private sector.

When a Maine town department head retires, instead of replacing him paying the second in command a little more could often work. The guy or gal who usually is doing most of the heavy lifting day to day is who should be tapped on the shoulder. To step up. Compensated a little more in the weekly pay envelope.

Tightening up a top heavy town government with a template that worked twenty years ago that now is a luxury no longer affordable.

Or sometimes pulling back in the number of cars parked out back the local government facility is needed. With too many middle management employees. Everyone has a vehicle, other benefits the Maine town no longer can afford to offer. That’s a place to weed for the long term survival of the small Maine town. We have quality of life in Maine. But the quarters for the life jukebox year round to keep it going is at stake.

So getting on the horn with Maine state representatives, speaking loudly to say whoa, ease up on all the new fees, laws on top of legislation that just strangle small town residents. And the small Maine businesses in them that you don’t want to lose.

But will if suddenly the employers say, that’s it. We’re forced to close our doors and go elsewhere to another area of the state, country, the world or solar system where the environment to do business is healthier. Where we are appreciated. Embrace current industry rather than chasing new ones is the easiest return on economic development. Retention is key.

So is sometimes as simple as instituting new heating temperature standards, routines. Because of the extremely high cost of heating oil when you live in Maine and are so dependent on it. When energy use at your home is eyeballed like an eagle. But it’s not so intensely important on a municipal levels with all those buildings, facilities, buses, cruisers, plows, etc paid for from handsomely with deep digging in the general fund, not an individual’s wallet. Where the individual says ouch.

Looking for areas of duplication in services and getting insulated players together on the same dug out bench. To chill in one group. To brainstorm and talk about what if we do this, or that. Would it be better now and in the long run for the small Maine town batted around. The small Maine town that has to be careful or it will cease to exist. And everyone gets the memo, last one out, remember to shut off the lights.

Small business in Maine has a hard time for the leg up to success, even survival because of the lack of sheer volume needed to turn a profit.

Customers leave a small Maine town for goods and services that are offered significantly cheaper elsewhere. Even with high cost gas, transportation, if what the small Maine business has to spend to stay in the community is too steep, sales drop off sharply.

Rising expenses to do business in a Maine small town means anything the state, county and local municipality can do to ease the tug at the wallet is key to survival. Of the small Maine business, of the community’s schools, public safety, everything that goes on in the inner workings of the community. Going things the same old way we always did is one nail in the coffin of a small Maine town.

Maintaining population is key in a small Maine town. And growth, increasing the number of folks pushing shopping carts, paying local property taxes, serving on local boards, enrolling their kids in the local schools all enhance the overall economic health. But cutting costs, increasing revenue will help those elderly folks on very small fixed incomes that are barely hanging on.

The Maine small town community spirit increases when a local business can expand. Renovate and add on to the service, product produced or distributed in the small Maine town. If belt tightening in spending in a small Maine town happens like you and I do in our own households when the funds are tight, the adjustment is easier to swallow. Than when do or die up against a wall happens because Mr. Overspending meets Mr. Empty Checkbook.

Creating revenue streams in a small Maine town takes brainstorming and working together to see what is not available locally and asking how come? And talking to local business and community leaders to see their ideas are part of the direction the small Maine town is headed. And regionally every small Maine town knows their role in the grand scheme of how each community rolls. The part they play in keeping a small Maine town vibrant, unique and a place for young folks to consider living, working, playing in. Maintaining the option of where to live the current population enjoys, wants to see continue.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

September 11, 2013
Making Progress, Coming Together In A Small Maine Town.

The Essentials For A Healthy, Happy Life Taught In A Maine Home, Household Growing Up In Rural Vacationland, The Pine Tree State.

There is a reason rear view mirrors are so small, the windshield in front so big.

And all that wrap around glass to see what’s going on from the sides. Looking back too much takes your eyes off the road. You miss what is happening now around you when traveling.

When you stop moving, you stop growing. And hindsight helps for perspective. But it is not the driver of the car now. Because everything does not stay the same. Some wished it did because it is easier when you’ve seen the movie, know the words to the song. Have danced the steps before. Or that is just a cruel habit that keeps you from realizing how good something you never try on your plate really is. No thank you helpings can lead to seconds, thirds and life long habits of new varied dining fare experiences right?

What are you afraid of in the unknown?

Loss of control, fear of a mistake in unchartered waters? Needing the safety of let’s do nothing and see what happens? When a small group in a Maine town together focus on solutions to tough situations, amazing things unfold. Good and bad until kinks found, removed. Until everyone agrees to disagree. Becomes proactive instead of reactive, roller derby happens. Here (motioning) put on these elbow and knee protectors. Make sure that helmet is strapped on extra tight. It’s going to get rough. Someone is going to get bloodied if it becomes a civil war of contention, finger pointing, back biting.

The frustration is not the other person. It is the quandary, quagmire we find ourselves in. Unhappiness goes down harder with a person that has lead a charmed, okay borderline spoiled life of privilege. The “work with what you have, make the most of it and just be glad for small improvement” is not enough gain. Sometimes too little too late. But right now, fix it for good, throw any amount of money at it and let’s move on. To more fun endeavors is not how life in a small rural Maine town works. Smaller, simpler, survival nut to crack daily strips away the non essentials.

Why Maine Happened, How So Important A Place Like Vacationland Is.

Economics, harder when they are not just local fun and games.

Because on the local level if everyone bought and sold, traded within your zip code, the closed circuit could thrive. With good service, competitive prices and having more of a selection than the other guy. But when Interstates, shopping malls, Amazon and a person not batting an eye to travel hundreds of miles to save ten, rut ro. Problems up on the bridge of that small Maine town.

And when a governor wannabe figures the little small towns that made the state great are not pulling their weight. Not holding their own. That kind of saber rattling, poison pen journalism makes you nervous. Or why not dig in, look within and remind all in the huddle this game is far from over boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. We can win, and by a large margin if we work together. We’re Mainers remember?

To work toward improving the local economy starts with accessing, arranging what face cards you hold as a Maine town.

Inventory of what we have that some other places do not. Our strengths, talents, natural resources are the kitchen ingredients for something good to serve. But beefing up areas of the pantry that are low on supplies needed. To know where the money and time should be spent to have ammo for what we need to keep shooting, growing. Protecting the economy of that small Maine town. Preserve the existing Maine businesses before chasing new ones should happen too. Interview those already here and learn their challenges.

Help them, all local Maine businesses before they close their doors because of a blind eye, deaf ear.

Next, throwing out the “but but but we have always done it this way before” logic which is using that rear view or side mount mirrors exclusively. We may need to back up if on the wrong rabbit trail. But these new and improved west coast mirrors like the RV and big rig professionals drive with should help. Look ahead in the here and now. Read, watch, learn that the landscape has changed. While you and I have been enjoying sips of coffee, under the stars, strumming a guitar, after a bean dinner by the camp fire.

There is work to do, roll up that blanket, tighten the girth on your painted pony.

We are staring down the barrel of some hard charging, fast riding and neck reining barrel racing maneuvers. Because gotta stay awake, or at least snooze with one eye left propted open. Much to do before we fall sleep again.

Maybe have been snoozing and loosing, napping too much to see what is happening for economic and social erosion. Keep an open mind. Conflict resolution in a small town, in a partnership from marriage is an art. Nothing personal taken, happens when brainstorming to cause the blood to boil right? Frustration with the problem does not mean attack the players that are all in this together. Solutions, not negativity should be served up during work sessions. Unity is hard but no other option. Less people, plenty of decisions and hard work means gotta get along. More than ever.

Maine, big state, less people, a tad insulated, not isolated. Which can be good and bad. Serving up a challenge. Volume is important in sales. Because the profit is smaller. The income is in the expenses and way you run a tight ship. Cruising the facility looking for slack constantly. Our local government, schools, population in small Maine towns have to hunker down. But our history shows we are highly resourceful if Augusta, Washington goes easy on its regulation, restrictive demands. Anything that constrains, adds to the financial drain.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

March 15, 2013