FARMINGTON — In her journey to becoming the town’s new executive secretary, Nancy Martin encountered many amazing experiences.

The first one was how she came to apply for the position. Martin was looking through the classified ads for a friend who was looking for work in the Farmington area when she saw the ad for the secretarial opening.

“I felt this was an amazing opportunity for me to work locally, and to better know the community. I enjoy working in an office setting and opportunities like this don’t open up often and I did not want to miss out, so I applied immediately,” she said.

Martin worked with outgoing Executive Secretary Linda Grant for 12 weeks, which was another great experience.

“Training with Linda Grant was such an incredible gift that allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the ins and outs of this new position! Working with Linda for 12 weeks allowed us to train in so many areas that we could not have covered in the traditional two week training period,” she said.

Martin enjoys the variety her new position calls for.

“I enjoy the diversity of tasks, from taking minutes for the Board of Selectmen to filling out OSHA/Bureau of Labor reports, assisting residents as they call or stop in. You never know who may stop by,” she said. “I very much enjoy getting to know co-workers from all departments:  police, fire and rescue, public works, cemetery, treasurer’s office, town clerks. They truly are a great group of people and they are all so willing to assist me as I learn this new position.”

Learning municipal verbiage has been the most challenging for Martin.

“Each industry has its own way of saying things and acronyms, so when you switch fields you need to learn the language,” she said. “The first few weeks I found myself Googling a lot and asking Linda Grant and Dick Davis (town manager) what certain terms stood for.  Fortunately, they are both amazing and willing to assist as needed.”

Martin says she has mixed feelings about board meetings being live streamed.

“I forget that CATV is recording the Board of Selectmen meeting. I look up and it’s like YIKES. I forgot about the camera,” she said. “But that is a small inconvenience for being able to watch the video and playback portions while I type up the meeting minutes.”

Martin brings 30 years of office experience, including 16 years at Associated Grocers of Maine where she held the following positions: Administrative Assistant to the VP of Marketing & Procurement, Customer Service Manager and Administrative Assistant to the VP of Sales and Retail Development.

She left AGME to go back to school at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a certificate in Health Science and an Associate Degree in Radiologic Technology (x-ray tech). At that time the field was saturated. Due a family health issue, she felt the need to work full-time with benefits. She applied at TD Bank and was hired.

Martin spent five and a half years at TD Bank. While there she held a variety of positions.

She left TD Bank after moving to Farmington in 2017 (from Winthrop) so she could find something close by and create a better work/life balance.

“My commute one way was over an hour up Route 4 and during storm days it could take 1.5 – 2 hours to drive one way, depending on road conditions,” she said.

Martin passed the United States Postal Service test and was hired as a USPS City Carrier Assistant in Madison.

“I enjoyed the position, unfortunately it was part-time and I never knew if I would work 12 hours a week or 40,” she said. “While working for the USPS, I came across the advertisement for the Executive Secretary position for the Town of Farmington!

“I was thrilled! Close to home, secretarial work is right in my wheelhouse and I loved the thought of learning more about new my community and how municipalities work.

“A friend of mine is the Treasurer for the Town of Sullivan and I just love to listen to her stories. She always seemed so happy and loved her work as a public servant. She works hard, but loves the work and the people. This always made me a bit envious. I called her and asked what she thought. She felt I would do very well and I would enjoy the work.”

Martin and her husband James moved to Farmington in December 2017. Their new home places them midway between three of their children. The oldest, David lives in Fayette, Jessica lives in Rangeley (she is a nurse in Farmington) and Carrie lives in Livermore with their only granddaughter Livi (born July 4th).

“We felt our home in Winthrop was bigger than we needed at this stage of our lives.  And my husband had a health issue, that fortunately was resolved,” she said. “James works at Home Depot in Augusta as a Department Supervisor/Receiving.”

The Martins have a black lab, Miss Kay and two male cats, August and Tucker.

“I enjoy walking the woods in late fall and riding the ATV trails in the Rangeley Lakes Area,” Martin said.

Something that might surprise folks is Martin completed the TD Bank “Bike the Burroughs” event in New York City.

“It’s a forty mile bike ride through the five boroughs of New York City,” she said. “What I didn’t realize before I started was that I would need to bike three miles to the event, then bike three miles to the ferry after the event, then back to my hotel.

“I never believed in “participation medals” prior to that event, but when they handed me that bronze participation medallion, I felt like I’d earned it!”