County assistant Gove retires after 16 years
CARIBOU, Maine — After 16 years as Aroostook County Administrative Assistant and 20 years as Deputy Tax Collector for the City of Caribou, Diane Gove is planning to retire.
Diane Gove began working when she was 13, and has not stopped since then.
“I started carhopping for Sesme Car Hop, where Machias Savings Bank is, when I was 13. After working continually since then, I decided it’s time to do what I want when I want to do it,” she said.
Gove has worked with County Administrator Doug Beaulieu for 13 years, and with many of the same commissioners throughout her time as administrative assistant.
“It’s been one of the nicest experiences I’ve had in all my years of public service,” said Beaulieu. “I’ve never had to agonize about anything with Diane. Everything has been on the up and up.”
Beaulieu added that he has always called Gove the “gatekeeper,” as she handles the flow of traffic into his office.
“It feels like I’m losing a family member,” Beaulieu said.
During her 16 years of service, Gove has not noticed many differences between her first day and now, save for a few changes such as the budgets and annual report.
“I work with the same commissioners and have worked for Doug for the past 13 years,” Gove said. “The biggest change would be the budgets, since the county and the towns have tighter budgets than before. I also used to have to do elections for unorganized territories and put together an annual report for the county, which we no longer have to do as long as the audit is taken care of.”
Though there are few major changes, Gove said every day of work is different.
“I’m not only Doug’s administrative assistant, but I also take care of the website,” Gove said. “I do some IT. I take care of jail stays; people who stay in jail have to pay me after they stay. People will often call for telephone numbers and approach me for various things related to the county. I’m generally the first person people see when they come in here.”
Gove also takes care of distributing agendas for County Commissioner meetings and getting the minutes out there after the meeting is said and done, in addition to updating the website when vehicles are put out to bid.
“Right now we have two vehicles out to bid,” Gove said, “and if people come to look at the vehicles, I will take them out and show them what we’re putting out and then accept their bids if they make one.”
Though a day as administrative assistant can be hectic, Gove said she has a general idea of what each day will be like, as there are a set number of tasks that need to be accomplished.
The new administrative assistant, Sherrill Campbell, began work on July 11.
“I’m very confident in Sherrill,” Gove said. “She’s worked in the school department as administrative assistant for 17 and a half years. She’ll do fine and fit in very easily, and she can reach me by phone if anything comes up.”
While Gove is retiring, she will still help with Emergency Management Center operations when it is needed.
Diane going to miss “pretty much everything” about the job, especially the people she works with, but is optimistic about the future.
“You never know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” said Gove, “and I’m not going to have any more tomorrow than I have today.”
