By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

About 13 years ago, former Scarborough Town Council Chairman Jeff Messer invited a few athletes to join him at the high school track. Although he was the assistant coach for the team, Messer said the get-together was not a formal practice since he was not being paid for his time. 

Members of the school board felt otherwise. 

“I was suspended from coaching for a year for practicing in the off-season,” he said. “I got really upset about that because it seemed the school board was content to throw me under the bus.”

Abiding by one of many sayings Messer said he lives life by – “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem,” in this case – he initially set his sights on fixing the situation by running for school board. Having grown up in a family devoted to public service – his grandfather was a fire chief and his parents were active John F. Kennedy supporters in West Springfield, Mass., Messer said he felt prepared to tackle tough issues involving the entire town.

“Whatever I’m doing I totally immerse myself in,” he said. 

It took the wisdom of former Town Councilor Phil Rowe to convince Messer to enter a different political arena more suited to his character.

“He told me ‘You want to be on the [town] council, that’s where all the action’s at,’” Messer said.

Having moved to Scarborough only five years before his first campaign, Messer said he didn’t expect to receive the highest number of votes out of all eight council candidates during the 1996 election. 

“I moved here from Massachusetts too, which is like some kind of albatross hanging around my neck,” he said. “But, there was a candidate’s night and I think I did extremely well.”

Messer was elected the council during what he called a time of “unmitigated growth” for Scarborough, resulting in an average property tax rate increase of 7 percent each year. Messer said many of the council’s votes went uncontested and meetings lasted an average of one hour. 

Strongly believing a quick consensus did not necessarily mean what was best for the town, Messer began working toward his goals – limit property tax increases to 2.5 percent per year and spending no more than the rate of inflation – by seeking out allies.

“I saw early on it wasn’t going to be easy to get stuff done unless you have like-minded people on the council,” he said. 

With the help of Councilor Ron Ahlquist, Messer “recruited” Bill Kennedy and Sue Foley-Fergusson to the council and Michael Wood – a current town councilor and “heir apparent” as next council chairman, Messer said – to the planning board.

“A lot of people say councilors seem to have similar views. It’s not accidental, it’s by design,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we’re breaking out the rubber stamp, but we’re able to get a lot of stuff done.”

Now, the average council meeting lasts two and a half hours, often resulting in votes in favor and opposed to projects or proposals, Messer said.

“My job is to try and reach a consensus, when it becomes obvious that’s not going to happen, you start counting votes,” he said. “That’s the way it works.”

The first issue Messer tackled on the council was a proposal from American Ash Recycling (AAR) to build an ash recycling plant in town. He said after devoting more than 100 hours collecting data from experts across the country, he decided to oppose the project based on public safety reasons. Messer said the proposed plant was expected to process both bottom ash – the leftover remnants from incinerators – and fly ash – particles released into the air during incineration.

“[Experts] told me all research showed using bottom ash was okay,” he said. “[AAR] wanted to recycle bottom and fly ash, which had all kinds of [harmful chemicals] in it.”

The project was ultimately voted down, a decision Messer said prevented potentially catastrophic, long-term public health problems for Scarborough citizens.

“As it turns out, the stuff is 10 times as dangerous as we thought it was 10 years ago,” he said. 

While he advocated against AAR, Messer said he was proud to be involved in another, more recent project with potentially long-term financial benefits for the town; the Cabela’s plaza on the Haigis Parkway. While he voted in favor of the final project plan, Messer said the town originally rejected the developer’s proposal.

“A lot of people think the council accepted what Cabela’s fed them. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” he said. “The original proposal was just Cabela’s, nothing else. We told them ‘Not interested,’ retail wasn’t the vision we had for the parkway. They went back and came up with pretty much what you see today.”

In passing the torch, Messer said he encouraged the council to take a serious look at replacing the Wentworth Intermediate School. While he said he was opposed to a plan that was ultimately rejected by voters in 2006 for being “over the top,” he would support a more moderate proposal he would prefer be on the 2010 ballot.

“Gubernatorial elections generally get a good sentiment of the will of the people,” he said.

Other future priorities for the town include new senior housing options – Messer said his efforts to spur construction of a senior center had been rejected by the council three times “out of political spite” – and a development of the Scarborough Downs property, two projects that could possibly go hand-in-hand. 

“I would like to see the Downs property developed somehow, but I’m not optimistic that’s going to happen. It would take $100 to $200 million in infrastructure development for the town to break even,” he said. “It’s one of the hidden jewels in town.”

Despite some recommending he possibly run for governor or a state representative position and the option to return to the council, Messer said it’s unlikely he will hold another political office. 

“You miss a lot of time with your family on the council,” he said. “Some people are of the impression I’m going to take a year off and go back, but I think that sort of violates the spirit of the town charter. I’ve done my public duty.”

Messer may get to shake off the stress of being a local politician, but said he still has to shoulder an immense amount of responsibility as an air traffic controller supervisor at Portland International Jetport.

“I usually spend some time at the terminal window, looking at families as they are getting on the planes, just to remind myself they’re relying on me to bring my ‘A game’ every day,” he said. “There’s some pressure there.”

Not having to spend countless hours in the council chambers also frees up time for Messer to pursue his “real passion” for privately coaching individual athelets. Working with four female runners – Allison Chamberlain, Hilary Curtis, Kaitlynn Saldanha and Erica Jessiman – who eventually took the state championship and “rewrote the record books” was “the most rewarding experience of [my] life,” thus far, he said. 

“I don’t coach just anybody,” he said. “It would have to be the right athlete, the right time and the right situation.”