FARMINGTON — It is time for a new chapter in Jane Woodman’s life.
After serving 34 years as business manager for the Farmington Village Corporation-Water Department, Woodman will retire Oct. 4.
Her mother, Ruth Woodman, held the position for about 10 years but wanted to retire so she suggested that Jane apply for the job.
Armed with a resume, she attended a board meeting to seek the position. Assessor Pete Hall advised her she didn’t need it — she already had the job.
Woodman took on compiling reports formerly hired out, she said. She also completed reports for the Public Utilities Commission and worked closely with all financing payments.
She started working three days a week in January 1982. When Superintendent Tom Holt came on board, her work expanded to four days.
She said she’s learned a lot about water systems. She served 25 years on the board of the Maine Rural Water Association. Conferences allowed her to learn and bring new ideas to the department and to meet people from all over the United States, she said.
Customer service has been a highlight for her, she said. Over the years, she has seen fewer of the 1,600 customers come to the High Street office because the department accepts online payments, she said.
Also during her tenure, some large projects have been accomplished.
In the early 1990s, the department changed the water system source from Varnum Pond to a Town Farm Road well. Also, the water main from the old hospital on Fairbanks Road to Horn’s Corner was replaced. In 2010, the department built a reservoir to allow Mt. Blue High School to hook on to town water.
The Farmington Village Corp. started in 1850 because rural farmers didn’t use or want to pay for town water, sprinkling downtown streets, a lamplighter for downtown lights or for a fire department.
The Water Department came out of the Village Corporation’s provision of fire protection for village areas, she said.
Farmington Village Corp. built the High Street building in the 1940s and started the town’s Fire Department, which was housed there until the 1970s, she said.
With an interest in history and storytelling, Woodman plans to write the department’s history in the days to come.
She is active with the Farmington Historical Society and Western Maine Storytelling Guild. She also plans to continue skiing this winter, spend time with her son and 2-year-old grandson, raise a new puppy and continue walking her dogs on Piney Acres, land on the Holley Road left by her father, she said.
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