To the editor:
As a freshman in college, I mentioned to my father I was thinking of becoming a town manager. His response was that is one of the worst jobs anyone can ever have, that half the town is complaining you are not spending enough to fix their street and the other half are complaining you’re spending too much and need to lower the taxes. It is a lose-lose situation.
Steve Buck is to be commended for his tireless efforts to please those he worked for and those who worked for him. His resignation comes as no surprise as most town managers are unable to last in the position for a lifetime due to the impossible task of pleasing all the people, all the time. Once the honeymoon is over, the criticisms begin and gradually grow increasingly louder until the negativism is more than any person can stand. Humans by nature seem to focus on the negative, which is probably why the news media primarily deliver bad news. The good stuff doesn’t get much attention.
Steve brought a modern approach to explaining the complexities of city government to his citizen bosses with the use of Excel spreadsheets and graphs displayed in PowerPoint presentations. I expect he brought many other successes to the position but I’ve not been involved enough to list them out. The poor economy, combined with a shrinking population and shrinking tax base, has created a very difficult situation for our local government. People cannot afford higher taxes yet resist decreased services from our city. We can’t have it both ways.
Thanks to good advice from my father, I’ve never been a town manager. Despite that, I can imagine it is not a picnic job by any means. In addition to all the late-evening meetings, it is a job that the negative overshadows the positive resulting in eventually having to sell your home, say goodbye to new friends and uproot your family to a new location. These are not enjoyable tasks, especially if you have to do them a few times over a 40-year career.
Thank you Steve, for the job you have done and for the years you have worked for the city of Caribou, I personally appreciate them and wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Phil Cyr, administrator
Caribou Rehab
and Nursing Center
