Dear Editor:

As Jim Chaousis leaves town for his new role in Rockland, I would just like to express my appreciation for the work he has done here in Boothbay. When I had the chance to work with Jim on any issue, I found that he was always focused on how to solve the problem at hand. I saw in him a great blend of candor, competence and enthusiasm that is unfortunately rare in public service. While I did not agree with every one of his initiatives, in every case I understood them to be coming from his best sense of what was right for the community.

I think we were politically on opposite sides of the aisle, as they say, but that did not impede Jim from working with me (nor I with him). I very much liked his passion for active citizen engagement in our democratic forms of government, and admired his enthusiasm for engaging himself and others in the business of our democracy.

I wish he could have stayed on. I realize he is a bright light in the world of municipal government, or perhaps, in the future, in realms beyond the limits of any city. We were lucky to have had him working for us for the time he was here.

Bruce MacDonald

Boothbay