Municipal Leaders: Develop Faster, Lead Stronger, Build Better
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In the northernmost reaches of Maine, a small border town of just 2,000 people is experiencing a renaissance that defies the typical narrative of rural decline. At the helm of this transformation is Luke Dyer, Town Manager of Van Buren, whose journey from police sergeant to municipal leader offers valuable lessons for communities of all sizes.
From Badges to Budgets: An Unexpected Transition
Luke Dyer never planned to become a town manager. After nearly three decades in law enforcement, his trajectory changed when his police chief suffered a severe accident. As his department dwindled during the pandemic, Luke found himself approached for a new role: Deputy Town Manager.
“I went from being upstairs in the police department to downstairs in the town office,” Luke explains in his conversation with Seth Winterhalter on the latest episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast. “I ended up going downstairs to work as the bookkeeper, to be trained as a bookkeeper. It was important to me that I knew all the financials of the town and how it worked, where every penny went.”
This meticulous approach to understanding municipal operations would become the foundation for transformation.
A Town at a Crossroads
When Luke stepped into leadership, Van Buren was facing challenges common to many small towns. The closure of a nearby Air Force base had decimated the local economy. A “100-year flood” had forced the relocation of the international bridge that brought Canadian visitors into the downtown. Businesses had closed, and the municipality had acquired over half of its downtown buildings through tax foreclosure.
Standing on the sidewalk outside the town office each evening, Luke would look at the deteriorating buildings and ask himself, “Can you fix this?”
The turning point came when he observed two ambitious brothers renovating the historic Gaiety Theatre across the street. “If two people can do that much revitalization, just two, what if I had 50 people, 50 volunteers who had the right heart to help rebuild this town?” Luke recalls thinking. “That’s when it all started.”
Small Wins Create Big Momentum
Many municipal leaders might have started with economic development plans or infrastructure initiatives. Luke started with pickleball.
Noticing that the town’s ice skating rink sat empty nine months of the year, he proposed painting pickleball courts inside. The town council was skeptical. “Our rec department is a crap hole,” Luke remembers them thinking. His response was bold: “Because it’s a crap hole. Our people are driving by this rec department every day. They don’t know what terrible shape this place is in. It’s time people see what’s going on in this town.”
This became the philosophy behind Van Buren’s revival: create visible wins that build community pride and engagement. The pickleball courts attracted players who had never been connected before. Those players started asking how they could help with other improvements. Donations flowed in, enabling the town to upgrade lighting, repaint the rink boards, and eventually resurface the long-neglected tennis courts.
Leveraging Relationships and Resourcefulness
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Van Buren’s revitalization has been Luke’s ability to access expertise and resources that would typically be far beyond a small town’s budget.
A grant from the Citizens Institute on Rural Design connected Van Buren with national experts on community development. This led to partnerships with Drexel University and Georgetown University, providing the town with architectural designs, historic preservation expertise, and branding assistance worth well over $125,000.
“The resources of these large universities and the real-life work that the students are able to do benefits a town like Van Buren. You can’t even put a price on it,” Luke explains.
Community Heart and Soul
Understanding that sustainable revival required more than physical improvements, Luke implemented the Community Heart and Soul program to engage residents in identifying what they truly valued about Van Buren.
“Prior to three years ago, you couldn’t get five Van Buren people in the same room to commune about anything,” Luke notes. Today, the town’s “Christmas in July” festival draws over 1,300 visitors, and the premiere of a documentary about Van Buren’s revitalization brought 200 people out during a severe snowstorm.
The transformation has been so remarkable that former residents regularly contact Luke to express their gratitude. “Over the last three years no less than a hundred people have either emailed me, called the town office or showed up here on vacation to thank me and the town volunteers for what we’re doing because this is their beloved hometown,” he shares.
Lessons for Municipal Leaders
Luke’s experience offers several key insights for other municipal leaders:
The Path Forward
Van Buren’s transformation is still underway. Luke acknowledges that the town will never be exactly what it was in its heyday, but it can become something new and vibrant.
“It’ll probably never be what it was before,” he reflects. “It’ll be something different, but it’ll be thriving in a different way. And I still think that’s okay.”
For municipal leaders everywhere, Luke’s story is a powerful reminder that revitalization isn’t just about economic strategies or infrastructure investments—it’s about building community, fostering pride, and having the courage to ask, “Why not us? Why not now?”
Watch the YouTube Documentary on Van Buren: Reviving the Gateway
To hear the full conversation with Luke Dyer, tune in to Episode 163 of the HaltingWinter Podcast, available now on all podcast platforms. Seth Winterhalter serves as the President of HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions and speaks around the nation as a keynote speaker on the myth of work-life balance for leaders and how to create a world-class culture inside the bureaucracy of the public sector.
