In the public eye: Burns makes immediate impact as Windham's first assistant town manager

Robert 'Bob" Burns, Jr. is the first Assistant
Town Manager in Windham history. He joined
the town in December 2021 after serving 18
years as Public Works Director and Town
Engineer for the Town of Gorham.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

Editor’s note: This is another in an ongoing series of Windham and Raymond town employee profiles.

By Andrew Wing

The list of duties for a town manager is very long. While the Town Manager Barry Tibbetts oversees the town’s administration offices and government operations and the job responsibilities include coordinating activities across multiple departments, communicating with the public and managing internal affairs to planning the town’s budget, the workload for Tibbetts is extensive. To alleviate some of that, the town council thought Windham needed an assistant town manager and that’s where Robert Burns, Jr. entered the picture.

In the fall of 2021, the town of Windham announced that Burns had been selected as Windham’s first Assistant Town Manager. This new position was funded in the 2021-2022 town budget and approved by the residents of Windham at the annual town meeting that was held in June last year.

Burns officially started his new job as Windham Assistant Town Manager in early December 2021, and for the past seven months, he has not looked back.

When it comes to what Burns’ specific duties and responsibilities are for his job, they quite literally revolve around assisting the Town Manager in all aspects of that position. Specifically, Burns has been focused on various projects involving the Planning Department, Code Enforcement Office, Information Technology and Tax Assessing. In addition, he has been working on the town’s Trash Collection contract negotiation with New England waste management company, Casella Waste Systems.

Despite Burns still being fairly new to the position of Assistant Town Manager, he came to the town with a wide range of experience and knowledge that will make him a huge asset to the town of Windham in the years to come.

Burns graduated from Yarmouth High School before he went on to attend the University of Maine at Orono where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Engineering. Following graduation, Burns worked both in Maryland in Public Works and in Florida as a consulting environmental engineer. After that, he found his way back home to Maine and served as the Public Works Director and Town Engineer in Gorham for 18 years.

However, a strong interest and desire to transition from Public Works and Engineering to Town Management led him to Windham where he has already experienced some memorable moments in his new position.

“The most memorable moment I can recall while being here would have to be the annual town meeting,” said Burns. “It was the first experience I had as a government employee and it was a very interesting proceeding that I took a lot away from.”

Burns said he knew what to expect when he took the job, and one of the things he expected was some challenges. And he said the toughest aspect of his new job is adjusting priorities on a daily basis.

“The most challenging aspect of my job is adjusting to the shifting priority of projects day to day,” said Burns. “That’s a challenge because I have to do that while also staying on schedule with some of our other longer-range projects.”

But despite the job’s challenges, Burns is glad to be where he is, and just like he has already experienced some memorable moments in his new job, he has also come to realize what the best part of his job is.

“The best thing about what I do as Assistant Town Manager is being able to help our Windham residents,” said Burns. “I really love being able to help the residents by solving problems that affect them.”

He says he pays attention to how Tibbetts and his other coworkers resolve problems and the issues Windham residents face on a daily basis.

“I have learned a lot in my first seven months as Windham Assistant Town Manager,” said Burns. “More specifically, I have learned that the devil truly is in the details.”

Getting a new job is not only a big change in the individual’s life, but if they have a family like Burns does, it is a big change for them too and it’s important what they think of your work. And luckily for Burns, his family thinks very highly of his job.

“My family appreciates my job,” said Burns. “They enjoy hearing about the various projects and issues being worked on.” <