Maine DEP Shows Customer Service Commitment With Installation of Southern State Director
October 7, 2011
Contact: Samantha DePoy-Warren, Maine DEP Spokesperson/Director of Education & Outreach samantha.depoy-warren@maine.gov / 592-0427
-North Yarmouth resident Jim Dusch, the agency?s Policy Director, will fill the position effective October 11 and serve as the leading regional resource for agency-related assistance-
PORTLAND ? In an effort to elevate its quality of customer service, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has restored a regional director in its southern state office.
Jim Dusch, the agency?s Director of Policy and a North Yarmouth resident, has been picked for the post, which had been discontinued in 2005 under the Baldacci administration. The position was created with existing department vacancies, and will result in no new costs to Maine taxpayers.
As director of the Southern Maine Regional Office, located on Canco Road in Portland, Dusch will be a regional resource for the half of the state?s population that office serves and will manage the department?s second largest team of staff after its central Augusta headquarters.
Dusch, who has developed extensive relationships throughout the state?s environmental and business communities during his time at the department and in his prior practice as a private attorney, was selected from a pool of internal and external candidates for his extensive understanding of all agency programs and people that a regional director needs to best guide those outside the agency and within in need of assistance and advocacy.
?As we redouble our commitment to customer service and expand our assistance offerings, our regional offices are increasingly critical as central connectors to the department for the communities they cover. Given their ever important role, these regional offices must have the resources and leadership necessary to meeting our mission of protecting the environment and ensuring a sustainable economy, delivering on our agency priorities and conveying our culture of cooperation. I am confident that reinstating this position and selecting Jim to serve in it will do just that in southern Maine,? said Maine DEP Commissioner Pattie Aho.
Dusch joins the department?s other Regional Directors including Nick Archer, of the Northern Maine Regional Office on Central Drive in Presque Isle, and Ed Logue, of the Eastern Maine Regional Office on Hogan Road in Bangor.
The re-establishment of a senior manager in the southern Maine region is just another of the recent reminders that DEP is here to help Mainers, said Dusch, who joins the southern Maine staff on October 11.
?Being located as a leader in Maine?s most populous region will allow me to directly respond to requests for local assistance. Perhaps more importantly, it best positions me so I can reach out proactively to connect with communities and companies in southern Maine to understand how the department can best serve them as we all work together to further a healthy environment and a strong economy,? he said.
Southern Maine Regional Office Director Jim Dusch can be reached at the regional office at 312 Canco Road in Portland at (207) 822-6300 or via email at jim.e.dusch@maine.gov. For more information about the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and its regional offices, visit http://www.maine.gov/dep.
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