By James V. Horrigan
Staff Writer
Scarborough resident Jim Budway, recently named director of the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency, will talk about many subjects, but terrorism or potential terrorist targets in the Greater Portland area is not one of them.
“I wouldn’t want to address threats,” he said earlier this week from county emergency management bunker in Windham. “I don’t want to get into hypotheticals because I really think that there’s no concern there. I don’t even want to conjecture on that type of thing.”
When told he wouldn’t have to give up any emergency management secrets, Budway seemed to reconsider. But just a little. He said the response would be pretty much the same in any disaster.
“Whether it’s man-made or natural the response will likely be similar,” Budway said.
With 27 years of military service behind him – including 21 in the Marines and six in the Navy – he knows his present job benefits from lessons learned while in uniform.
“You have to be truthful and upfront with your co-workers and with the organizations that you work with,” Budway said. “Integrity is the foundation of relationships.”
Discipline is another trait he puts to good use.
“I certainly learned that you have to have a vision, a distant aiming point that you want to move an organization toward and not be distracted by issues on the periphery,” he said.
In addition to integrity and discipline, he said organizational skill is another thing he learned in the service. But after just three months on the job, Budway understands that he still has a lot to learn.
“I’ve formulated some ideas as to the direction I want to move Cumberland County Emergency Management,” he said. “But there’s nothing that I’ve found since coming here that I’ve looked at and said, ‘Well, that’s obviously broken.’ We’ve got an excellent staff here and everything seems to be moving in the right direction.”
Budway said he expects to spend the next few months getting around to the Cumberland County communities he has yet to visit and introduce himself to fire chiefs and town managers.
“We’re a safety valve, I guess you would call it, for the communities in the county. They all want to know that if they pick up the phone that we’re here to listen to what the problem is, and then see if we can coordinate with other communities within the county to provide them assistance.”
Budway, 45, was born in Bangor; he and his wife Guada have two children. Ann Budway, 12, is in the sixth grade at the Scarborough Middle School. His eldest child, 14-year-old son Edward Budway, is a high school freshman.
As the children of a military officer – Budway rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel – they have lived in several different places, including northern Virginia, Massachusetts, California and Okinawa, Japan, but never for more than a few years at a time. They are excited about the prospect of finally settling down in a home –and a town– they can call their own, Budway said.
“For my children’s purposes I was interested in establishing a permanent location. Instead of moving every two or three years, they could go through high school and graduate with their friends,” a luxury Budway said was unknown to him when he was their age.
“I’m from a military family also. My father was in the Navy so we moved constantly. I couldn’t tell you how many times,” he said.
Having attended three high schools in four years, Budway knows that he missed out on a lot.
“I remember the kids, but I didn’t really establish a bond with them,” he said. I want my kids to grow up with kids and have a bond and to have a place to come back to. The way I grew up, to me, that was fine, but I think I’d like to offer my kids a little more stability.”
But that’s not to say his children didn’t make the most of the opportunities they were presented, Budway said.
“They loved living on Okinawa. It’s a beautiful island with wonderful people. They call it ‘the Hawaii of Japan,’” he said of the 60-mile-long by 15-mile-wide island, with a population of 1.2 million, making it comparable to Maine demographically, if not geographically.
Budway said Okinawa was his children’s favorite place to live.
“While we were there, I made sure I took my kids to Korea, to Hong Kong, to the Philippines, so that they could see the culture,” he said.
As the executive officer of a Marine regiment, Budway was able to interact with Okinawans in a way that many American service personnel were not.
“Because of my position, I was invited to participate in cultural activities like dragon boat races and town fairs and things that I could take my kids to, things that were really a lot of fun to do.” he said.
Because Budway’s first impression of the island, which is located approximately 850 miles southwest of Tokyo, was as an enlisted man in the early ‘80s, he was a little hesitant at first to take his family with him.
But he is glad that he did.
“It would’ve been a mistake not to go. It was just a wonderful, beautiful place to take a family. They really enjoyed it,” he said.
As much as he appreciated his time on Okinawa, Budway said he and his family are glad to be in Maine. Part of the reason, he said, is due to the changing seasons.
“I’ve always liked the four seasons. That’s part of the reason I moved back here. It reinvigorates you. It’s a change of attitude and pace. My kids are very happy here; we want to establish roots here. We’ve planted the flag here. Our intent is to stay,” he said.
When asked how long he might remain as director of the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency, Budway only shrugged. That decision, he said, belongs to County Manager Peter Crichton.
“I’ll treat this job like I’ve treated the Marine Corps, which is to focus and surge, to push forward, to try and attain the goals of the county, working in cooperation with the communities to make sure that people are as prepared as they can be for a disaster,” he said.