This talk is available via Zoom. Registration is required. Please complete the registration form to receive the Zoom connection information.
Speaker: Susan Lessard, Town Manager, Town of Bucksport, Maine
In 2018, Yankee Magazine dubbed the Town of Bucksport as “The Town that Refused to Die.” With the loss of 40% of its tax base and nearly 300 jobs from the closure of the VERSO paper mill in December of 2014, the view from many was that Bucksport would become just one more dying former mill town. But that is not Bucksport’s story. Bucksport’s story centers around five P’s – people, planning, partnerships, persistence, and progress. Susan’s talk will focus on how the integration of those five P’s is not only helping Bucksport move forward, but how the five P’s can help any community move forward. Her ultimate goal through this talk is to convince participants of the importance of becoming more involved in their communities.
Susan Lessard was born and raised in Maine and has spent all of her 38+ years of municipal government work in Maine. She is a graduate of the University of Maine with a Bachelor of University Studies and a minor in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She has served as the Town Manager of Bucksport since 2015, and previously held similar positions in Hampden, Vinalhaven, Fayette, and Livermore Falls.
In addition to her municipal work, she served on the Board of Environmental Protection from 2007 to 2015, as Chair of the Board from 2008 to 2011, and was reappointed in 2017 for an additional term. She serves at the national level on the Local Government Advisory Committee and the Small Community Advisory Committee to the EPA and on the Board of Trustees of HOME, Inc., the regional homeless shelter. Ms. Lessard lives in Bucksport with her husband Dan and their crazy west highland terrier Jack Frost.