Regional Waste Systems' Board Elects Officers for 2003-04

Portland Mayor James Cloutier to lead 28-member board

PORTLAND, Maine - The board of Regional Waste Systems, a non-profit municipal solid waste and recycling organization owned and controlled by 27 towns in southern Maine, elected officers for the 2003-04 fiscal year at its annual meeting recently in Freeport.

The slate of officers who will lead the 28-member RWS board are: James F. Cloutier of Portland as chairman; Jeffrey K. Jordan of South Portland as vice chairman; Anthony T. Plante of Windham as treasurer; and Nicholas M. Mavodones Jr. of Portland as secretary.

James Cloutier has been an RWS board member serving Portland since 1998. The mayor of Portland, he is serving his second term on the Portland City Council. An attorney in Portland, Cloutier is active in a number of civic organizations, including GPCOG, Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Study (PACTS) Portland Partnership and the Casco Bay Estuary Project. He also volunteers at the Wayside Evening Soup Kitchen and St. Pius Church. Born in Portland and raised in South Portland, Cloutier is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, USM and Cheverus High School.


Jeffrey Jordan is the city manager of South Portland. He has served on the RWS board since 1996 and is the former treasurer. He is a former chairman of the Casco Bay Estuary Project and is currently the chair of the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Study. Jordan has a master's from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern Maine. He has been recognized for his leadership on environmental issues, including the Governor's Environmental Achievement Award in 1998 and a Friends of Casco Bay Award in 1996.


Anthony T. Plante is the town manager of Windham. He has been a member of the RWS board since 1996, serving on the Finance Committee and Executive Committee. Plante has been a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) since 1985. He also currently serves as the second vice president of GPCOG, the chairman of the Cumberland County Managers Association and a member of the PACTS Policy Committee. Plante has a bachelor's degree in public management from the University of Maine and is a graduate of Edward Little High School in Auburn.


Nicholas Mavodones, the operations manager for Casco Bay Lines in Portland, has served on the RWS board since 1997. He has been a member of the Portland City Council since 1997 and is a former mayor of Portland. Mavodones serves on the Portland Fish Pier Advisory Board and is a member of the Maine Service Center Coalition. In addition, he served from 1989 to 1995 on the Portland School Committee. Mavodones is a graduate and a member of the board of the Institute for Civic Leadership. He attended the Center for Advanced Maritime Studies and is a graduate of Yarmouth High School.

The four officers also will continue to lead the board's 13-member Executive Committee. Other board members elected to serve on that committee include Len Van Gaasbeek of Hollis, Carol Fritz of Cape Elizabeth, Susan McGinty of Cumberland, Scott Seaver of North Yarmouth, Duane Kline of Portland, Dale Olmstead of Freeport, Maurice St. Clair of Lyman, John Boyden of Windham, and Ron Owens of Scarborough.

RWS is owned and controlled by 21 member communities and also has six associate member towns. Those communities are: Baldwin, Bridgton, Cape Elizabeth, Casco, Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Gorham, Gray, Harrison, Hollis, Limington, Lyman, Naples, North Yarmouth, Ogunquit, Parsonsfield, Porter, Portland, Pownal, Raymond, Scarborough, South Portland, Standish, Waterboro, Windham, and Yarmouth.

Established in 1974 after Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough decided to form a cooperative to handle their waste disposal, today RWS is governed by a 28-member board, consisting of officials appointed from member towns.

RWS accepts solid waste and recycled materials from its member communities and today operates the largest municipal recycling program in Maine with more than 100 recycling bins in 60 locations. For additional information on RWS, visit www.regionalwaste.org.

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